THE INVESTOR

메뉴열기
March 30, 2024

Celltrion gears up to enter China

PUBLISHED : May 24, 2017 - 16:40

UPDATED : May 24, 2017 - 16:40

  • 본문폰트 작게
  • 본문폰트 크게
  • 페이스북
  • sms

[THE INVESTOR] Celltrion said on May 23 that it has received a nod from China’s drug regulator to initiate clinical trials of its biosimilar Remsima, clearing the first hurdle in the world’s second largest pharma market.

This is the first approval by the China Food and Drug Administration granted to an antibody biosimilar developed by a foreign company, Celltrion said. 




The green light is an impetus to the market expansion of Remsima, a copy version of Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster drug Remicade, which has entered big biosimilar markets like Europe and the US.

China’s demand for monoclonal antibody has grown at a fast pace of 30 percent a year and the figure will further increase once the country’s 1.3 billion population starts ageing, the firm said.

“Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin is spearheading the business in China. He is considering to set up a joint venture with a Chinese firm and build a plant there in anticipation of future demand,” the firm said in a press release.

The company also plans to seek the Chinese regulator’s approval to test its two drug candidates – Truxima and Herzuma -- this year.

Truxima is a biosimilar version of Roche’s blockbuster lymphatic cancer treatment Rituxan and Herzuma is a copycat of breast cancer treatment Herceptin of Genentech.

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

  • 페이스북
  • sms
최상단으로
COPYRIGHT HERALD CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.