Celltrion Healthcare said on Monday it won bids in major European countries for three of its anti-cancer biosimilars, Truxima (ingredient: rituximab), Herzuma (ingredient: trastuzumab), and Vegzelma (ingredient: bevacizumab), since switching to direct sales. 

On the same day, Celltrion also announced its biggest quarterly supply contract worth about 423.6 billion won (approximately $317.3 million) with Celltrion Healthcare for the rapid global supply of Truxima, Herzuma, Vegzelma in addition to its autoimmune disease treatments Remsima (ingredient: infliximab), Remsima SC, and Yuflyma (ingredient: adalimumab).

Truxima, a biosimilar for treating blood cancers such as non-hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL),  won a bid in France with AGEPS, the agency responsible for procuring drugs for public hospitals in Paris and other hospitals in France. AGEPS is the organization responsible for the procurement of medicines for APHP (Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris), a federation of university hospitals in the Paris and Île-de-France regions of France. Truxima will be exclusively supplied to these hospitals for three years starting in October this year. 

Additionally,  Herzuma, an anticancer drug biosimilar used to treat breast cancer and gastric cancer, is also continuing to win orders in Italy and Türkiye. Herzuma won the bid for trastuzumab in the Italian state of Campagna in the third quarter of this year and has already started supplying the drug since August. 

Meanwhile, Vegzelma, a biosimilar for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer and breast cancer, also won bids in the Italian state of Campagna and succeeded in increasing Vegzelma's prescription area to 50 percent of the Italian bevacizumab market by expanding supply to the province of Campagna, after winning state bids for Lombardia, Emilia Romagna, and Tuscany in the first quarter of this year.

On the other hand, the company also won the bid for Truxima through Türkiye’s State Supply Office, DMO,  which accounts for about 20 percent of the total rituximab market. Consequently, both Herzuma and Truxima are leading the market in Türkiye with 70 percent and 65 percent of the market share, respectively, as of the first quarter of this year.

Celltrion Healthcare explained that commercial capabilities and product supply stability were the main driving forces behind the success of three anti-cancer drug biosimilars across Europe. 

Furthermore, product sales are expected to expand further through the ongoing merger of Celltrion and Celltrion Healthcare which is expected to facilitate the lowering of the sales cost from Celltrion's production cost.

"Switching to direct sales for the anti-cancer biosimilars and the launch of Vegzelma in the second half of last year has strengthened commercial competitiveness due to the expansion of the anti-cancer drug portfolio, and as a result of establishing marketing strategies that match the characteristics of each country,” said Kim Dong-sik, Marketing & Public Affairs lead Celltrion Healthcare France. "We plan to expand market dominance in Europe by conducting more aggressive marketing through improved cost rates after the merger is completed."