Fighter Against Celltrion
Samsung Bioepis received a lot of attention from doctors and those working in the bio industry who took part in an American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) meeting held at Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas from October 14 to 19 (local time).
This is because samsung Bioepis’ biosimilar to Remicade is a fighter against Celltrion’s “Inflectra” biosimilar to Remicade, an autoimmune disease treatment, which will be launched in the US next month. Samsung Bioepis applied for the approval of sales of “SB2” which is biosimilar to Remicade to the US FDA in February.
Samsung Bioepis draw much attention from the US bio medical industry in the ACG. Although Samsung Bioepis’s main products are autoimmune disease drugs such as rheumatoid arthritis treatments, autoimmune disease drugs can work well for digestive diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Samsung Bioepis took part in the ACG meeting to publicize the fact that its product is highly efficient in treating digestive diseases. The launch of Inflectra triggered a flood of questions about “SB2.”
With this meeting as momentum, Samsung Bioepis is planning to expand its business in the US market. The global market of autoimmune disease treatments such as Remicade, Humira and Enbrel is estimated at 35 trillion won (US$30.5 billion), 20 trillion won (US$18 billion) of which belongs to the US.
Samsung Bioepis will inevitably compete with Celltrion. At the moment, Samsung Bioepis has been selling “SB2” under the name of “Flixabi” in Europe since August. Celltrion’s Remsima (Inflectra in the US) already surpassed a 40% market share (in terms of original drugs) in Europe. It is forecast that there will be a duel between Celltrion which preoccupied the US market and Samsung Bioepis in hot pursuit of Celltrion.
“During the ACG meeting, we witnessed participants’ strong interest in biosimilar products in a symposium,” said a representative of Samsung Bioepis. “We explained effects not only about autoimmune diseases but digestive diseases in the symposium.”