Biocon ties up with Swiss pharma company for biosimilars

BENGALURU: Biopharmaceutical company Biocon and Sandoz, a unit of Swiss pharma giant Novartis, will partner to develop, manufacture and commercialize multiple biosimilars in immunology and oncology for patients, the two companies said.
Biosimilars are biologic products, made inside living cells and has no clinical differences in terms of safety and effectiveness from the main product.They are however not considered duplicates, like generics, by regulators as it is impossible to manufacture exact copies of biotech drugs.
We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Sandoz for developing a set of next generation biosimilar products. This synergistic partnership will enable us to scale up our capabilities for an ‘end to end’ play in the global biosimilars space,” Biocon chairperson & managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said.
Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will share responsibility for end-to- end development, manufacturing and global regulatory approvals for a number of products and will have a cost and profit share arrangement globally.
Worldwide commercialization responsibilities will be divided and each company’s strengths will be leveraged within specific geographies. Sandoz will lead commercialization in North America and the EU while Biocon will lead commercialization in rest of the world.
“Together, we will be able to realize benefits at every stage of the value chain, from development, through manufacturing to commercialization," said Carol Lynch, global head, biopharmaceuticals, Sandoz. "This collaboration further strengthens our ability to deliver next-generation biosimilar medicines to patients."
Biocon already has a tie up with for biosimilars with US pharma company Mylan. Last month, the US FDA approved its biosimilar for Roche’s drug Herceptin which is used to treat breast and metastatic stomach cancer, in what is seen as a big revenue generator for Biocon in the biggest pharmaceutical market.