Celltrion Healthcare said it has succeeded in winning a bid for Remsima (ingredient: infliximab), a biosimilar for AbbVie's autoimmune disease treatment Humira, in Brazil, the largest pharmaceutical market in Latin America.

Under the contract, Celltrion Healthcare will deliver Remsima to Brazil's federal market over the next year.

The company also stressed that it has won orders from 12 provincial governmental bids, including São Paulo, the largest province in Brazil.

As a result, the company explained that Remsima would account for more than 70 percent of Brazil's infliximab market, including the private market volume that the company has previously supplied.

Celltrion Healthcare is continuing its performance since it started switching from indirect drug sales to direct sales in 2019.

With the recent Remsima contract, the company now supplies three biosimilars – Truxima, Herzuma, and Remsima -- to Brazil's federal and provincial governments.

Celltrion Healthcare is also making significant achievements in other neighboring Latin American countries.

In 2021, sales in Latin America of the three products increased 2.5 times compared to 2020, and their share in the company's total sales is also steadily increasing every year.

Notably, the company succeeded in winning orders for Truxima and Herzuma from Mexico's drug agency, Instituto de Salud para el Bienestar, earlier this year. Mexico is the second-largest pharmaceutical market in Latin America,

Celltrion Group's biosimilar products have an unrivaled position in Central and South America, surpassing original drugs and competing biosimilar products. In Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, the three major products occupy more than 80 percent of the market share and maintain a monopoly.

"After the conversion to direct sales, the company succeeded in establishing itself as a biosimilar company with great influence in the Latin American biopharmaceutical market by expanding the local subsidiaries' manpower and strengthening marketing activities," a company official said. "

As the company's business area is steadily expanding worldwide, Celltrion plans to expand its global direct sales base to launch follow-up products, such as Remsima SC and Yuflyma, successfully.