HONG KONG - With a corporate valuation of $1.04 billion, the South Korean biosimilar company Aprogen Inc. has become the country’s first biotech “unicorn,” according to U.S. market research firm CB Insights. Korea now ranks fifth, tied with Germany, in terms of the number of unicorns, with total of 11 unicorns, a term used to describe private ventures with $1 billion-plus valuations.
HONG KONG – Daewon Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., based in Seoul, South Korea, has received the approval from the country's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) to market Terrosa, a biosimilar teriparatide for osteoporosis treatment developed by Richter-Helm Biotec GmbH & Co. KG, of Hamburg, Germany.
HONG KONG –South Korea's leading biopharmaceutical developer, Celltrion Inc., has launched its early/metastatic breast and gastric cancer biosimilar Herzuma (trastuzumab) in Iraq. It is Herzuma's first foray into the Middle Eastern region.
HONG KONG – South Korean biopharmaceutical company Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd., based in Incheon, will expand into the Brazilian market with Brenzys (etanercept), having recently signed a marketing agreement with Brazil's Ministry of Health. The drug is now available through the country's public health system, Sistema Único de Saùde (SUS).
SAO PAULO, Brazil – Pharmacovigilance is emerging as a key concern for the development and distribution of biosimilars in Latin America. Experts gathered this week for the BIO Latin America conference focused on the issue and highlighted what they see as a key concern, one that is holding back the spread of that new class of drugs throughout the region.
Drug pricing legislation will be high on the to-do list when the U.S. Congress returns from its August recess next week, as both the Senate and the House are expected to take action this month on competing packages of provisions aimed at controlling prescription drug prices.
HONG KONG – Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd., a South Korean biosimilar developer, said the FDA approved its July 2018 application for Hadlima (adalimumab-bwwd), a biosimilar referencing Abbvie Inc. blockbuster TNF-blocker Humira (adalimumab).
HONG KONG – Celltrion Inc., of South Korea, and Hong Kong-based conglomerate Nan Fung Group Holdings Ltd. said they have built a joint venture named Vcell Healthcare Ltd., geared toward the Chinese market.
HONG KONG – Supported by the municipal government of Chongqing in China, a joint venture between South Korean drugmaker Binex Co. Ltd. and Chinese pharmaceutical company Chongqing Zein Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. will be set up in the third quarter of this year.
Unintended consequences. It’s a term that’s bandied about all too often in Washington these days, as it’s become the PC way for lawmakers and agencies like the FDA to save face when they have to admit, “Oops, we didn’t think that one through very well” when confronted with the negative impacts of the laws and regulations they’ve created. A new unintended consequence could be in the offing as the FDA extends its practice of label carve-outs to biosimilars. A familiar feature of the generics scene, carve-outs have allowed the agency to approve a knock-off even though the reference drug may...