In January, Russian biopharma firm Biocad received approval in Russia for its version of Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade (infliximab) after demonstrating its molecule was equivalent to the reference biologic.
The product will be launched at a discount in Russia and will capture a large share of Remicade sales, the company told Biopharma-Reporter.
“We will reduce the price compare to Remicade and consequently our infliximab will be more affordable for the patients on Russian market,” a spokesperson said. “In the next two years we are considering to gain more than half of market share in INN infliximab.”
Infliximab is Biocad’s fourth monoclonal antibody biosimilar to gain regulatory approval, with bevacizumab, trastuzumab, and rituximab biosimilars approved across a number of Asian, North African and Latin American markets.
“Currently we got the market authorization for the Russian Market. However, in the next three years our infliximab will be available in South America, India, Asia, CIS countries and in the MENAT region. In the foreseeable future we are expecting to sell our molecule in more than 30 countries,” the company told us.
Manufacturing
“We are ‘full-cycle pharmaceutical company’ so we can guarantee high quality of the product confirmed by GMP certificates of several countries, we control every manufacturing stage and manage expenses for production and promotion that results in flexible pricing policy,” Biocad said.
Currently Biocad makes its biosimilar products in Russia but this will change in the near future, the firm told us: “Starting from 2021-2022 our infliximab, as all our biosimilars and original molecules, will be produced in EU.”
It added: "Biocad is building the modern manufacturing site in Finland. It will be constructed by the end of 2021."
The firm announced plans to build the €25m 3,500m2 biomanufacturing plant in Turku, Finland last May.
And in December, Biocad partnered with Sothema to construct a fill/finish plant for biosimilars in Casablanca, Morocco.