Dive Brief:
- Amgen will partner with Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo to market and sell nine biosimilars in Japan, the companies said on Thursday.
- While Amgen will continue to develop and manufacture the biosimilars, Daiichi will be responsible for filing for approval and selling the drugs in Japan. The agreement covers several late-stage biosimilars, including versions of the blockbuster biologics Humira, Avastin, and Herceptin.
- Amgen has been aggressive in developing biosimilars and just this week won the support of an FDA advisory panel for its biosim version of Humira in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
"Amgen is excited to collaborate with Daiichi Sankyo as we seek to drive adoption and build confidence in biosimilars as a means of enhancing patient access to more affordable therapeutic options worldwide," said Scott Foraker, general manager of Biosimilars at Amgen.
While Daiichi will be in charge of distributing and selling the biosimilars post-approval in Japan, Amgen will retain limited co-promotion rights in Japan, along with all other rights for biosimilar programs outside that country.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal covers biosimilars of AbbVie's Humira, along with versions of Roche's cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin and six other drugs not yet named.
In the U.S., Amgen has found itself in the unusual position of vigorously arguing for broad acceptance of biosimilars on one hand, while at the same time attempting to defend its own drugs from rival companies' biosimilars. This week, Amgen successfully pushed its biosim of AbbVie's top-selling Humira past an FDA panel review, before unsuccessfully trying to stave off Novartis' copy of its top-selling Enbrel.