Celltrion head Seo Jeong-jin (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc.’s biosimilar drug Truxima will reach the Colombian market, the company’s affiliate said Wednesday.
Global drug firm Mundi Pharma Inc. won exclusive rights to distribute and market the copy of Roche’s blockbuster medicine, also known as MabThera, in the South American country, Celltrion Healthcare said.
Celltrion Healthcare is the marketing and distribution subsidiary of Celltrion.
Truxima — the first biosimilar cancer drug to hit the European market last year — is used to treat patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis.
Truxima is now sold in the European Union, as well as Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. The drug is also scheduled to be launched in the Middle East.
On the back of robust sales of its biosimilar drugs in overseas markets, the company’s net profits soared 82.1 percent in 2017 from a year earlier.
Biosimilars are approved copies of existing drugs that are manufactured after the original patents expire.
(Yonhap)
