Teva enters exclusive biosimilar partnership with Celltrion

Teva and South Korean biopharmaceutical company Celltrion have entered into an exclusive partnership to commercialise two of Celltrion’s biosimilars in the US and Canada.

The first product is known as CT-P10, which is a proposed biosimilar version of Rituxan (rituximab), a drug used to treat patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, and rheumatoid arthritis, among other diseases.

The second biosimilar, called CT-P6, is a biosimilar of Herceptin (trastuzumab), which is used for treating diseases including breast cancer.

Both of the original drugs are produced by Genentech.

Siggi Olafsson, president and CEO of global generic medicines, Teva Pharmaceuticals, said in a statement: “This commercial partnership with Celltrion enables Teva to expand into the upcoming wave of biosimilars and build on its strong position in the biosimilar space.”

He added: “The introduction of two additional mAb biosimilar candidates into our near-term pipeline bolsters our biosimilar portfolio and continues to leverage Teva’s unique cross-functional capabilities across both speciality and generic medicines.

“We look forward to our partnership with Celltrion with its expertise in mAb biosimilar development and manufacturing.”

HyoungKi Kim, CEO of Celltrion, said in a statement: “As a global biopharmaceutical leader with established products as well as a robust biosimilar pipeline and novel drugs, we are very excited about our new partnership with Teva.”

Under the agreement, Teva will be responsible for all commercial activities in the US and Canada, but is still waiting for approvals of both biosimilars. Celltrion will be responsible for completing all clinical development and regulatory activities.

Celltrion submitted CT-P10 to the European Medicines Agency for review in October 2015, and is currently preparing CT-P6 for submission.