Just weeks after scoring a deal to develop biosimilars with Merck Serono, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories is boasting about the rapid growth in its biosims business. In its annual report, the Indian pharma company notes that the biosimilars side of the business swelled 45%, to $26 million. That's only a pittance in the biopharma world, but Dr. Reddy's expects to see continued rapid growth as it extends its reach from emerging markets into the developed world.
"With 177 biosimilar and copy biologics, oncology is currently the largest target therapeutic area for development and marketing of biosimilars," Reddy told shareholders, according to a report from The Times of India.
In its deal with Merck Serono, Dr. Reddy's won co-commercialization rights for the antibody biosimilars it develops for the oncology market in the U.S. The pact resembles a string of collaborations which have been struck in the past year, including a tie-up between Amgen ($AMGN) and Watson Pharmaceuticals ($WPI) as well as Samsung and Biogen Idec ($BIIB).
Analysts expect the biosimilars market to be large, but the financial threshold to enter it will be high.
- here's the story from The Times of India
Related Articles:
Merck KGaA and Dr. Reddy's partner on a slate of antibody biosims
Amgen, Biogen jump into copycat game amid string of biosimilars deals
Samsung plans ambitious rollout of biosims at deep discounts