Samsung Bioepis’ biosimilar sales in European Union surpassed $170 million in the first quarter of this year, data showed Wednesday.

According to the first three-month earnings report of Biogen, Samsung Bioepis’ marketing partner in EU, the sales of three biosimilar products – Benepali, Flixabi, and Imraldi -- totaled $174.4 million in the first quarter of 2019, up 12 percent from the previous quarter.

Benepali (Ingredient: Etanercept) sales increased 3 percent quarter on quarter to $124 million, and those of Flixabi (Ingredient: Infliximab) rose 123 percent to $14.7 million. The sales of Imraldi (Ingredient: adalimumab), which was launched in October last year, also reached $35.7 million, a 112 percent increase from the previous quarter.

Benepali has placed itself as the flagship product of Samsung Bioepis as it has surpassed 1 trillion won ($863.7 million) in cumulative sales after three years of its launch. Since last year, the company has been steadily recording sales of about $120 million every quarter.

According to IQVIA, a global health research firm, Benepali has a market share of 40 percent in the Etanercept biosimilar market in Europe as of the end of February 2019.

During the same period, Benepali sold more than five times more than Sandoz's Erelzi, a competing biosimilar product, and is fighting against the original drug Enbrel for market share. In Germany, which records the highest drug price in Europe, Benepali has continued to widen its gap with Enbrel since it surpassed market share last October.

With the success of Benepali, Samsung Bioepis is challenging the European adalimumab market of about 5 trillion won.

In the first quarter of this year, Imraldi achieved more than double the previous quarter's sales and increased its market share in Europe from 2 percent in November last year to 7 percent in February.

In particular, Imradi has maintained its top position with 46 percent of the adalimumab biosimilar market despite fierce competition from other biosimilars simultaneously launched in October last year.

Although the drug has recently faced fierce checks from AbbVie, Samsung Bioepis plans to continue to build on its sales based on Imraldi's primary marketing advantage and a wealth of biosimilar sales experience.

“Biosimilar business sales increased 37 percent YoY,” Biogen CFO Jeffrey Capello said in a conference call with Samsung Bioepis. “Imraldi, introduced in 18 countries, is also leading the Humira biosimilars market.”