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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Bio

BIOCND to start clinical trials of Lucentis’ biosimilar

  • PUBLISHED :December 12, 2016 - 14:55
  • UPDATED :December 12, 2016 - 17:13
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[THE INVESTOR] South Korean biopharmaceutical company BIOCND will begin clinical trials of its Lucentis biosimilar for treating vision loss next year following approval by the country’s health authorities, the company said on Dec. 12.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety cleared BIOCND’s investigational new drug application for BCD300, its proposed biosimilar of Novartis’ age-related macular degeneration treatment Lucentis, on Dec. 7. 


We will launch the phase 1 clinical trials to test the efficacy and safety of BCD300 on patients with macular degeneration in early 2017,” BIOCND said in a press release.

With the greenlight, BIOCND has become the third company in the world to be granted approval for clinical trials of Lucentis’ biosimilar, it said.

On the news, BIOCND shares surged 8.74 percent to trade at 24,250 won (US$20.74) on the KONEX market at 2 p.m.

The Korean company will seek to target the global macular degeneration treatment market which is set to grow at 7.4 percent a year, reaching US$13.3 billion in 2023.

Sales of Novartis’ Lucentis reached at US$3.6 billion in 2015 and its patents will expire between 2018 and 2022.

The biopharmaceutical company has entered into an agreement to jointly develop and market BCD300 with Chinese drug maker Qilu Pharmaceutical in 2015.

BIOCND added that it is nearing completion of the phase 1 clinical trials of its biosimilar version of AbbVie’s flagship drug Humira.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)

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