On January 18, Sandoz and Biocon announced a new biosimilar partnership, which could extend both manufacturers’ market presence.
Although the specific biosimilar targets were not specified, the firms indicated that they will work to develop and commercialize next-generation oncology and immunology biosimilars. Unlike other partnerships that are delineated along the lines of manufacturing and marketing, this deal will be a 50/50 venture, in which Sandoz and Biocon will co-develop the agents and split marketing duties by region. Sandoz will be responsible for commercializing the drugs in North America and the EU, and Biocon will be responsible for all other economic areas.
“Our collaboration with Sandoz will bolster our existing global biosimilars portfolio comprising biosimilar antibodies & insulin analogs and will enable us to address the next wave of global biosimilars opportunities,” Arun Chandavarkar, CEO and Joint MD, Biocon said in India’s Business Standard.
Richard Francis, CEO, Sandoz stated, “[This agreement] bolsters our leadership position in biosimilars and positions us to continue to lead well into the future…Through this collaboration, we are reinforcing our long-term commitment to increase patient access to biologics.”
Biocon is currently involved in a partnership with Mylan, which so far resulted in the approval of a biosimilar version of trastuzumab in December 2017 (although the agent may not be launched until 2019–2020 because of an agreement Mylan reached with Roche, the manufacturer of the originator Herceptin®).
