Merck Launches Ontruzant Biosimilar of Herceptin in U.S.
April 15 2020 - 8:37AM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
Merck & Co. on Wednesday said it has launched Ontruzant, a
biosimilar of Roche Holding AG's blockbuster breast-cancer drug
Herceptin, in the U.S.
The Kenilworth, N.J., drug maker said it is rolling out
Ontruzant in the U.S. at a list price of about $1,325 for a
150-milligram single-dose vial and $3,709 for a 420-milligram
multiple-dose vial, representing a 15% discount to the current list
price of Herceptin.
Biosimilars are near-copies of biologic drugs, such as
Herceptin, that are made from living cells and are analogous to
generic copies of traditional pill-form medicines.
Merck is launching Ontruzant in the U.S. as part of a 2013
development and commercialization agreement with Samsung Bioepis, a
joint venture of Samsung BioLogics Co. and Biogen Inc., which
received Food and Drug Administration approval for the biosimilar
in January 2019.
Samsung Bioepis said the launch makes Ontruzant its first
oncology biosimilar available in the U.S.
Merck, which in February announced plans to spin off products
from its women's health, legacy brands and biosimilars businesses
into an independent, publicly traded company, said it will continue
to support the commercialization of Ontruzant until the spinoff,
which is slated for the first half of 2021.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2020 08:22 ET (12:22 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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