Dive Brief:
- Looking outside of established markets, Russian biotech Biocad said it will soon begin selling biosimilars of two cancer drugs in North Africa through a partnership with the Moroccan pharmaceutical firm Sothema Labs.
- As part of the collaboration, Biocad and Sothema will manufacture the copycat biologics in Morocco, in what the company has said is the first such case of technology transfer to the region.
- The first products set to be launched are biosimilars of Roche AG's Rituxan (rituximab) and Avastin (bevacizumab), which were approved in Morocco in October, according to Biocad. Both will be launched at a discount of 30% to the price of the original brand, although the Russian company didn't say which market it was referencing.
Dive Insight:
In theory, biosimilars should bring down the cost of biologics as copycat versions of their branded cousins. In some regions, such as parts of Europe, this has turned out to be the case. But in others uneven access and legal challenges have stymied a broader impact.
Major pharmaceutical companies typically devote less attention to African markets, leaving some countries reliant on older drugs. Biocad hopes to change this, seeing an opportunity first in Morocco and then in nearby North African countries to market its biosimilars.
Biocad cites estimates that the market for monoclonal antibody therapeutics could be worth as much as $220 million in North Africa and $40 million in Morocco — meaning the slice it targets with biosimilars would likely be a subset of that demand.
Perhaps optimistically, Biocad and Sothema believe they can capture 50% of the market for Rituxan and Avastin in Morocco once the manufacturing site there reaches full capacity.
The two companies first struck a deal in 2013, spending the intervening years transferring the manufacturing technology and validating production processes. The setup process has also necessitated finding a local partner in Algeria to manufacture the finished dosage forms of Biocad's products, Biocad said.
Biocad's Acellbio/Usmal (rituximab) biosimilar is approved in seven countries, including Bolivia and Honduras, giving it access to the Latin American market, as well as in India. Approval is pending in a further 27 countries.
The company is also developing biosimilars of AbbVie Inc.'s Humira (adalimumab), Janssen Biotech Inc.'s Remicade (infliximab), and Amgen Inc.'s Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa). Plans are under way for seeking approval of biosimilars in Europe, but this isn't likely until 2021.
In the past, Biocad has accused Roche AG of lowering the prices of Avastin, Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Rituxan in Russia in order to destroy the company and prevent it from bringing biosimilars to the U.S. market. The Russian company launched a complaint against Roche in U.S. federal court last year, demanding a jury trial.