The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Biocon shares gains on cancer drug launch

    Synopsis

    A biosimilar is a near copy of an original complex biologic drug.

    ET Bureau
    New Delhi: Bengaluru-headquartered biopharmaceutical company Biocon on Thursday said it has launched its follow on version of Roche's cancer medicine Avastin (bevacizumab) in India. Biocon would be competing with other Indian drug makers like Hetero, Intas, Zydus Cadila and Lupin for a share of the Rs177 crore market for the product here.

    Biocon's bevacizumab 'biosimilar', launched under the brand name 'Krabeva', has been approved here for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and other types of lung, kidney, cervical, ovarian and brain cancers.

    A biosimilar is a near copy of an original complex biologic drug.

    According to Biocon, Krabeva is a "high quality affordable alternative to the innovator brand". The brand’s maximum retail price (MRP) is expected to be lower than most bevacizumab biosimilars in the market today.

    Biocon stated that it was offering its biosimilar at an MRP of Rs24,000 for a 100mg/4ml vials and Rs 39,990 for a 400mg/16 ml vial.

    Compared to this, a 100mg injection of Roche's Avastin has an MRP of Rs41,250, according to pharmaceutical research company AIOCD PharmaTrac.

    Intas’ Bevatas has an MRP of Rs25,990, Hetero’s Cizumab an MRP of Rs27,095 and Zydus Cadila’s Zybev an MRP of Rs27,000 for the same dosage, according to the research firm. Only Lupin’s Bevazza is priced lower at Rs 21,993 for a vial, PharmaTrac’s data showed.

    Krabeva's launch follows Hetero and Zydus Cadila’s launches of their bevacizumab biosimilars this year.

    The market size for bevacizumab, including biosimilars, is estimated at Rs177 crore, according to IPSOS June 2017 Moving Annual Turnover data cited by Biocon.

    Bevacizumab’s October 2017 MAT value for the 100mg/4ml dosage sold through regular retail channels like pharmacies is around Rs 48.7 crore, according to PharmaTrac. Roche still holds the highest share of this market at 47.3%, followed by Intas at 33.1% and Hetero at 12.9%. Zydus, which launched Zybev in August this year, currently captures 1.5% of this market through such retail channels.

    Krabeva is the second key oncologic biosimilar product from Biocon’s global biosimilars portfolio to be launched in India, stated the company. Global sales of the innovator product in 2016 were pegged at $6.9 billion.

    The firm is still conducting global clinical trials in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSLC) patients at over 100 sites across multiple countries using an EU and US-sourced reference product.

    "We believe Krabeva will be an important addition to our Oncology portfolio of novel biologics as well as biosimilars, which are making a significant impact in the realm of cancer care in India,” said Arun Chandavarkar, CEO and Joint MD, Biocon.

    Shares of Biocon on Thursday rose 2.73% intra-day to Rs419.75 a piece on the Bombay Stock Exchange following the announcement of the launch, before closing at Rs413.05 per share—1.09% higher than the previous close.

    India is expected to have 1.40 lakh new lung cancer cases by 2020 from an estimated 1.14 lakh in 2016, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research. Similarly, new cervical cancer cases are expected to rise to 1.04 lakh in 2020 from an estimated 1 lakh in 2016.



    (What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today.

    Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price

    ...more


    (What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today.

    Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price

    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in