Korea's Celltrion Not Seeking More Sales, Distribution Deals With Big Pharma

SEOUL - Seo Jung-Jin, CEO of South Korea's biosimilar front-runner Celltrion, Inc. said his company isn't looking to establish additional sales and distribution partnerships with Big Pharma.

The company has already set up a stable sales and distribution network with several global partners for two of its biosimilars to be launched in global markets next year, and any more such agreements would create a "burden on Celltrion," the CEO said.

"Establishment of sales and distribution relations with big international pharmaceutical companies will undermine our price competitiveness because the sales through the global companies will push up the prices of our products in the global markets," Seo told PharmAsia News following an Oct. 6 press conference held in conjunction with the opening of Celltrion's second manufacturing plant in Incheon near Seoul.

Seo made those remarks when asked whether Celltrion was depending on global pharma companies for its global sales much like Korea's Hanwha Chemical Corp. Hanwha, which was in need of a strong global sales channel, teamed up with Merck & Co. Inc. to sell its biosimilar form of Enbrel (etandercept), Amgen's rheumatoid arthritis blockbuster (Also see "Merck Lands Late-Stage Enbrel Biosimilar In Deal With South Korea's Hanwha" - Scrip, 14 Jun, 2011.).

Seo said he was confident that the global distribution networks Celltrion has already established with U.S.-based Hospira, Hungary's Egis Pharmaceuticals and Japan's Nippon Kayaku Co. will be sufficient.

Celltrion inked an agreement in 2009 with Hospira to collaborate on manufacturing and marketing Celltrion's biosimilars in global markets including the U.S. and Europe (Also see "Korea's Celltrion In Deal With U.S.-based Hospira For Biogeneric Sales; M&A Hinted At" - Scrip, 12 Oct, 2009.).

Following that deal, the company signed another one with Egis Pharmaceuticals to sell its bosimilars in the former Soviet Republic countries and Eastern Europe (Also see "Korea's Celltrion Signs Deal with Hungary's Egis Pharmaceuticals to Sell Biosimilars In Former Soviet Republic Countries, Eastern Europe" - Scrip, 8 Feb, 2010.).

And, last November, the company also signed a marketing and distribution agreement with Japan's Nippon Kayaku Co. to market the biosimilars in Japan (Also see "Korea's Celltrion And Aprogen In Race To Sell Biosimilars In Japan" - Scrip, 2 Nov, 2010.).

Celltrion Biosimilars Coming To The U.S. In 2015

Celltrion is getting ready to launch biosimilars of Roche AG' s oncology agent Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Johnson & Johnson's rheumatoid arthritis agent Remicade (infliximab), in the U.S. in 2015 following launches in other markets including Europe and Asia.

"Biosimilar guidelines in the U.S. are expected to be available sometime in the first half of next year, and patent issues are seen ending in 2015, thus I expect our sales in the U.S. to start sometime in 2015," Seo said.

Celltrion will launch the two products in Korea first, and will then move to emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East, and South America, and will then launch in Europe by 2014 (Also see "Korea's Celltrion SVP Kim Hyoung-Ki On Gearing Up To Launch Biosimilars In Global Markets: An Interview With PharmAsia News" - Scrip, 30 Sep, 2011.).

Samsung Encroaching On Talent

The competition among Korean companies has steadily been growing in the biosimilar space, which has been healthy for the country, the CEO said. However, he expressed concern that Samsung Biologics was stepping on Celltrion's toes in its search for biosimilar talent (Also see "Korea's Samsung Electronics On Manhunt For Biosimilar Talent As Local Companies Keep Wary Eye On Competition" - Scrip, 26 Mar, 2010.).

"We don't mind sharing the global sales stemming from biosimilars with other Korean companies, and I think that is perhaps better than one company accumulating all the sales," Seo told reporters. "But we told Samsung to play fair, which doesn't lead to unfair scouting from Celltrion."

Seo met with reporters after a ceremony marking the launch of its second plant, which more than doubles its total capacity to 140,000 liters from the current plant's capacity of 50,000 liters (Also see "Celltrion Nearly Triples Production Capability For Biosimilars In Anticipation Of Global Launches" - Scrip, 20 Sep, 2011.).

The CEO said the company was in a position to build a third plant to expand capacity if needed.

- Peter Chang ([email protected])

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