Pharma News
Cipla–mAbxience partnership in South Africa
Cipla Medpro announced a partnership agreement with the global biotechnology company mAbxience in March 2022. This aims to provide essential oncology and respiratory-related biosimilars in South Africa.
Biocon to acquire biosimilars business from Viatris
India-based biologicals specialist Biocon Biologics (Biocon) announced on 28 February 2022 that it has entered into a definitive agreement with its partner Viatris (formerly Mylan) to acquire the latter’s biosimilar business.
Private equity firms poised to bid for Sandoz takeover
Following the late 2021 reports that Novartis is considering a possible sale or spinoff of its generics (and biosimilars) unit, Sandoz [1, 2], two private equity firms are now reportedly discussing a joint bid for the unit.
AbbVie and Alvotech settle Humira (adalimumab) disputes
US firm AbbVie and Iceland-based Alvotech have announced a resolution to the patent and trade secret disputes regarding Humira (adalimumab), for which Alvotech is developing a biosimilar.
Biogen and Xbrane form agreement for arthritis biosimilar
Biogen and Xbrane Biopharma (Xbrane) have announced a commercialization and licensing agreement for a biosimilar of certolizumab pegol (Cimzia), which can be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
Axantia to market Lupin’s pegfilgrastim in the Middle East and North Africa
On 1 February 2022, Indian multinational pharmaceutical company Lupin Ltd announced that it was entering into a License, Supply and Technology Sharing agreement with Axantia, to market Lupin’s pegfilgrastim biosimilar in certain territories in the Middle East and North Africa.
Orion-CuraTeQ and Theramax-Enzene Biosciences partnerships
In January 2022, Finnish company Orion Corporation and CuraTeQ Biologics, subsidiary of India’s Aurobindo Pharma, announced their European expansion to the Baltic countries. This follows the December 2021 announcement that the UK’s Theramex entered into an agreement with India’s Enzene Biosciences to develop, register and commercialize a biosimilar of Roche’s RoActemra® (tocilizumab).
Biocon–Viatris merger expected
The merger of India’s Biocon Biologics and Viatris’ biosimilar business are reported to be in advanced stages.
Samsung to take full control of Samsung Bioepis
Korean electronics giant Samsung has made a deal with US biotechnology company Biogen Idec (Biogen) to take full ownership of their joint biosimilars venture, Korea-based Samsung Bioepis.
Top 10 most read GaBI Online articles in 2021
A review of the Top 10 most read articles reveals that biosimilars are still of most interest to readers. Some of the most memorable events for biosimilars in 2021 were recommendations for biosimilar approvals by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), formerly the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), as well as summaries of biosimilar approvals in Uruguay and Paraguay. Other subjects of interest included naming for biosimilars in the US, the interchangeability of EU biosimilars, Federal purchases of biologicals for cancer in Brazil. Finally, how patent litigation creates barriers to US biosimilar market growth and how competition from biosimilars drives price reductions for biologicals in France was also of interest to readers.
