According to Mr Scott Foraker, Vice President and General Manager of biosimilars at Amgen, biosimilars are a good strategic fit for the company. They represent a compelling growth opportunity with the new portfolio of nine biosimilars having the potential to deliver more than US$3 billion in annual revenues.

Amgen is already developing biosimilars for cancer treatments: Avastin (bevacizumab), Herceptin (trastuzumab), Rituxan/MabThera (rituximab) from Roche and Erbitux (cetuximab) from Eli Lilly; for arthritis and Crohn’s disease treatments: Humira (adalimumab) from AbbVie and Remicade (infliximab) from Johnson & Johnson. In addition to the existing six biosimilar programmes [2], Amgen has also initiated three additional biosimilar programmes, bringing its total biosimilar programmes to nine.

Amgen is carrying out a global phase III clinical trial to evaluate the pharmacokinetic similarity of its biosimilar rituximab (ABP 798) compared to Roche’s blockbuster arthritis/non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma drug MabThera/Rituxan (rituximab) [1]. The company has reported positive results from a phase III study of its adalimumab biosimilar (ABP 501) compared with Humira (adalimumab) [3].

Amgen expects to launch its first biosimilar in 2017, followed by four others through 2019.

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References
1.   GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Amgen starts phase III trial for biosimilar rituximab [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2014 Nov 28]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Biosimilars/News/Amgen-starts-phase-III-trial-for-biosimilar-rituximab 
2.   Derbyshire M. Biosimilars collaboration at Amgen and Actavis. Generics and Biosimilars Initiative Journal (GaBI Journal). 2014;3(3):155-6. doi:10.5639/gabij.2014.0303.035
3.   GaBI Online - Generics and Biosimilars Initiative. Phase III study of biosimilar adalimumab meets primary endpoint [www.gabionline.net]. Mol, Belgium: Pro Pharma Communications International; [cited 2014 Nov 28]. Available from: www.gabionline.net/Biosimilars/Research/Phase-III-study-of-biosimilar-adalimumab-meets-primary-endpoint 

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