Eye on Pharma: Celltrion and Juno Team Up to Market Biosimilars in Australia

Biosimilar developer Celltrion and Juno Pharmaceuticals announced that they have entered into a comarketing partnership for Celltrion’s trastuzumab biosimilar, Herzuma, and its rituximab biosimilar, Truxima, in the Australian market.

Under the agreement, Celltrion will distribute the products in the Australian market, and Juno, a hospital supplier, will provide sales promotion and hospital contracting services to Australian hospital customers.

The new partnership comes shortly after Celltrion established its Australian branch in Sydney and subsequently joined Australia’s Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (GMBA), a group that represents generic and biosimilar manufacturers, suppliers, and exporters.

“At Celltrion Healthcare, our aim is to provide the best possible treatment options for patients and healthcare providers, and by connecting with the GBMA, we look forward to engaging positively to support the uptake of biosimilar medicines in Australia as a way to alleviate pressure on its national health system,” said Hyoung-Ki Kim, vice chairman and chief executive officer at Celltrion Healthcare, in a statement announcing the company’s new membership in the group.

The GBMA has taken an active role in providing education on biosimilars to stakeholders; in May of 2019, the group launched a new educational portal, funded by a grant by the Australian government, that provides tailored education to patients, prescribers, and pharmacists. Included in these materials is information on how some biosimilars—those that are “a-flagged”—can be substituted for their reference products at the point of dispensing.

Outside of Australia, Celltrion has been engaging in multiple other partnerships; in July of 2019, the company forged a joint venture, Vcell Healthcare Limited, together with Nan Fung Group to commercialize biosimilars in China. Last month, Celltrion also announced that it will contract with Swiss biologics maker Lonza to manufacture biosimilar infliximab CT-P13, sold as Remsima and Inflectra, in Singapore.