When it comes to deal-making, Celltrion leads the field in the number of collaborations in the biosimilar space according to a recent report by Biopharma-Reporter.com.
The firm currently has seven molecules in development but once the $17bn acquisition of its partner Hospira goes through, Pfizer will leapfrog the South Korean biomanufacturer and top the table of biosimilars in its EU/US pipeline.
According to data collated together by Evercore ISI analyst Mark Schoenebaum incorporating all major biosimilars in development (and displayed in the infographic below), the Biopharma Giant currently has versions of the monoclonal antibodies Humira, Rituxan, Herceptin, Remicade and Avastin in clinical trials.
Celltrion is also developing these five biosimilars in a co-marketing agreement with Hospira, and how these programmes will continue to develop once the merger goes through is still unknown. But Pfizer will also acquire Hospira’s other biosimilars – versions of Enbrel, Erbitux, Lucentis in development, as well as versions of Amgen’s Epogen and Neupogen both available in the EU – pushing its tally to ten.
“Pfizer is extremely thrilled to be in [the biosimilar] space,” Diem Nguyen, Regional President of Pfizer’s Global Established Pharma said at last week’s Goldman Sachs Biosimilars Conference.
“We had built capability from our innovative portfolio from a biologics perspective and we want to drive that capability from a manufacturing perspective to ultimately raise the expectations of what a biosimilar in the industry should be from a quality and similarity perspective.”
As for the biosimilar most targeted by biosimilar makers, AbbVie’s Humira leads the pack, with firms including Amgen, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Sandoz with products in Phase III trials.