[THE INVESTOR] An affiliate of Korean biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion said on June 11 that the biosimilar drug Truxima is now available in 18 European countries.

Celltrion Healthcare, which handles Celltrion’s overseas business, said Truxima, a reference to Roche’s Mabthera, also known as Rituxan, is now available in the European countries after its launch one year ago.

After Truxima began selling in Britain following approval from a European regulator, the drug expanded to the 18 nations, including Germany, France and Italy.

“Truxima logged market shares of 58 percent and 43 percent in the Netherlands and the Britain, respectively, on the back of plentiful clinical data,” said a company source, who declined to be named.

In February 2017, the European Medicines Agency accepted Celltrion’s application to sell the antibody biosimilar, which is used in the treatment of a number of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of leukemia.

The drug is sold in the European countries at a discount to the current list price of Rituxan, the company said.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)