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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Bio

Celltrion’s biosimilar eats up 30% market share of Roche’s Rituxan in UK, Netherlands

  • PUBLISHED :August 01, 2017 - 18:06
  • UPDATED :August 01, 2017 - 18:06
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[THE INVESTOR] Celltrion's Truxima, its copy version of Roche’s top-selling treatment Mabthera, has achieved rapid market penetration in some European countries, the company’s marketing affiliate said on Aug. 1.

According to Celltrion Healthcare, Truxima has taken away around 30 percent of the original drug’s market share in the UK and the Netherlands where the company began selling the medicine via its partner Mundipharma from April upon the European drug regulator’s approval in February.




Roche’s leukemia therapy Mabthera, also known as Rituxan in the US, logged sales of some 3 trillion won (US$2.67 billion) in the European markets while revenue in the UK stood at 27 billion won and 80 billion won in the Netherlands.

The Korean company’s market share expansion is attributed to low price as it sells the drug at a 30-40 percent discount on the current list price of Rituxan.

The market share of Truxima is growing at a faster clip than Remsima, Celltrion’s first biosimilar referencing Johnson & Johnson’s rheumatoid arthritis therapy Remicade, the company said.

“With the launch of Truxima, Celltrion Healthcare is strengthening its position as a leader in the biosimilar industry for oncology treatment following the success of autoimmune disease therapy (Remsima),” the company said in a release.

It took about a year for Remsima to lift its share in the European market to 30 percent since it was introduced in the first quarter of 2015.

“It was originally expected to show slower market expansion than Remsima as it is an oncology drug that doctors tend to be more careful to prescribe … . However, in countries such as the UK and Netherlands, demand for Truxima is known to be unexpectedly high,” Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Han Byung-hwa said.

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

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