Samsung Bioepis sees 30% jump in biosimilar sales in H1

A picture shows Samsung Bioepis corporate logo (Samsung Bioepis)

South Korean drugmaker Samsung Bioepis said Friday that global sales of five major biosimilar products increased 30 percent on-year in the first half of this year.

Sales of the five biosimilar products during the first half reached $166 million, from $128 million from the same period a year earlier, according to an earnings report of its global pharmaceutical partner Organon International, a spinoff of US-based Merck.

The five products are etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, trastuzumab and bevacizumab biosimilars. 　

Sales of infliximab biosimilar Renflexis took up the largest proportion of the combined sales for biosimilar products in the January-June period, reaching $81 million, up 37 percent from $59 million a year earlier. Renflexis, a biosimilar of Janssen Biotech’s blockbuster immunology medicine Remicade, posted $70 million in the US alone.

Sales of trastuzumab biosimilar Ontruzant also jumped 13 percent to $45 million during the first half of the year. The breast cancer biosimilar Ontruzant is the first biosimilar of Switzerland-based Roche’s Herceptin.

Sales of etanercept biosimilar Eticovo, a biosimilar referencing Pfizer’s Enbrel, however, decreased 28 percent during the six-month period.

Sales of the five biosimilar products do not correspond to Samsung Bioepis’ sales as Samsung Bioepis and Organon International split earnings as per their contract.

By Shim Woo-hyun(ws@heraldcorp.com)