[THE INVESTOR] Celltrion said on Feb. 19 its biosimilar Remsima shows comparable efficiency to Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade and AbbVie’s Humira in treating patients with Crohn’s disease.

The test results were disclosed at the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization 2018 Congress that was held last week in Vienna, Australia. 

A total of 1,610 Crohn’s disease patients in the UK were injected with the three anti-TNF therapies to investigate Remsima's effectiveness in reducing inflammatory bowels. At week 54, the remission rate was 39 percent, which compared to 39.7 percent for Remicade, J&J’s top-selling therapy and Remsima’s reference drug, and 32.7 percent for Humira, another blockbuster autoimmune drug.

“The results clearly show that the careful optimization of Remsima, Remicade and Humira as part of routine care may make these treatments more effective for patients with inflammatory bowel disease,” Celltrion Healthcare CEO Kim Man-hoon said in a statement. “Thanks to cost-saving benefits, Remsima will play a huge role in increasing access to biological treatment as well as improving outcomes.”

Remsima is the world’s first monoclonal antibody biosimilar approved in Europe in 2013 and is indicated for the treatment of eight autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. Since its launch in 2015, the drug has taken away almost 50 percent of the market share from the original drugs in Europe.

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