PHOTO: ROBERT HARDING, GETTY IMAGES
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In a bid to control the $16-billion market for insulin before 2015, when a number of antidiabetic drugs will lose their patent
protection, Pfizer entered into a $350-million deal with Bangalore-based Biocon for the commercialization of four insulin
products. Biocon's follow-on biologic versions of insulin and insulin-analog products (recombinant human insulin, glargine,
aspart, and lispro) are already available in India.
"Our decision was timely," said Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. "Biosimilars are gaining a lot of traction in the
United States. The deal will help us emerge stronger in follow-on biologics as well as in the diabetes segment," she said.
Jumping on the follow-on biologics bandwagon
Biocon's deal with Pfizer, which closed in October 2010, was just one of the many biotech-based deals that Indian drug manufacturers
have been making with Big Pharma companies around the world. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (Hyderabad), Ranbaxy (Gurgaon), Shantha
Biotech (Hyderabad), and Serum Institute (Pune) are actively involved in the follow-on biologic space, and analysts and investment
bankers maintain that additional Indian drug companies such as Panacea Biotech (New Delhi), Intas Biopharmaceuticals (Ahmedabad),
Reliance Life Sciences (Navi Mumbai), Bharat Biotech (Hyderabad), and Lupin (Mumbai) stand to benefit significantly given
their portfolio of biotech drugs.
Tarun Shah, Asia head of Mehta Partners, the strategic business advisor to Japan's Daiichi Sankyo in its 2008 majority stake
in Ranbaxy Laboratories, said, "Bringing a biosimilar drug to market is no easy task. It costs 20 times more than [small-molecule]
generics." (Of note, Mehta Partners has raised equity for Intas Biopharmaceuticals.)
Dhananjay Patankar, COO of Intas Biopharmaceuticals, however, believes that the entry of Indian follow-on biologics manufacturers
into the global market could help to decrease exorbitant healthcare costs, especially in the United States.
Given the mounting pressure from governments and patients' groups to reduce the cost of medicine, biopharmaceutical companies
that develop biologic drugs have a lot to offer. Herceptin (trastuzumab), for instance, which is a treatment for some forms
of breast cancer, can cost as much as $48,000 for one year's worth of treatment, according to industry sources.
Shah points out that the US patent for rituximab (a monoclonal antibody against the protein CD20, for the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis and non-Hodgkins lymphoma) is due to expire in between 2015 and 2018. The product is marketed as Rituxan/Mabthera
by Biogen Idec and Roche, respectively. The patent expiry creates opportunities for follow-on biologics manufacturers such
as Intas. California-based Spectrum Pharmaceuticals and Viropro, a biopharmaceutical manufacturer, also teamed up on Jan.
5, 2011, to develop a follow-on version of Roche and Biogen Idec's rituximab. "The deal follows a 2007 agreement with Intas
Biopharmaceuticals to become Viropro's second monoclonal antibody contract," explained Shah.
Speaking about a recent survey on Type 2 diabetes patients in the US, he noted that 60% of insulin users surveyed were eager
to switch to a less expensive [follow-on] form of insulin as soon as the agent became available.
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories launched at a steep discount its first follow-on biologic product, Grafeel (filgrastim), which is
used to treat cancer patients suffering from chemotherapy-induced neutropenia, in 2001, in India and its second, Reditux (rituximab)
in April 2007. The latter was similar to Amgen's Neupogen to treat neutropenia, a lack of certain white blood cells caused
by cancer or bone marrow transplant. This was followed by a third follow-on product, Cresp (darbepoetin alfa, a modified version
of epoetin alfa), which the company touts as the first generic darbepoetin alfa drug in the world, used in the treatment of
anemia due to chronic kidney disease.
The company intends to market Reditux in other regions, including the US, upon patent expiry of Amgen's Neupogen, according
to a company presentation. Managing Director Satish Reddy said the Cresp launch effectively afforded the firm a sharper edge
in marketing to the developed world.
Mumbai-based Cipla is also looking to launch follow-on biologics in the US market. Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied says the firm
is developing a range of discounted biosimilars. First off the block will be copycat versions of two of Roche's biologics:
Avastin (bevacizumab) and Herceptin (trastuzumab), which target the treatment of breast cancer. Third will be a follow-on
version of Enbrel (etanercept), a Pfizer/Amgen product that treats rheumatoid arthritis. "These [drugs] are very expensive
today. When Cipla launches its biosimilars, these big companies (multinationals) will be forced to pull down their price,"
says Hamied. Together, the three drugs account for $19 billion in annual revenue.
