Samsung Bioepis Begins Sales of 'Ontruzant' in Brazil

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Samsung Bioepis announced on the 10th that it has started selling Ontruzant (a Herceptin biosimilar), a breast cancer treatment, in Brazil, the largest pharmaceutical market in Latin America.

Samsung Bioepis sells the product through a PDP contract with the Brazilian Ministry of Health, partnering with local pharmaceutical companies and state-run research institutes. PDP is a policy operated by the Brazilian government to support foreign companies' market entry and promote the development of the domestic bio industry.

Ontruzant is the first trastuzumab biosimilar product to enter the public market led by the Brazilian government. Currently, the number of breast cancer patients in Brazil is about 67,000 and is showing an increasing trend every year. The market size of trastuzumab-based drugs in the Brazilian public sector is estimated to be around 100 billion KRW. The only trastuzumab-based drug supplied through PDP in Brazil so far is Herceptin, the original drug sold by the multinational pharmaceutical company Roche.

Last year, Samsung Bioepis launched Brenzys (an Enbrel biosimilar), an autoimmune disease treatment, in the Brazilian market through a PDP contract. It is significant in that the company expanded its product portfolio from autoimmune disease treatments to oncology treatments in the largest market in Latin America.

Park Sang-jin, Vice President and Head of Commercial Division at Samsung Bioepis, said, "We have been able to secure stable sales of Ontruzant through a government-led contract in the high-growth potential Brazilian market," adding, "We expect that more patients will have the opportunity to receive treatment with high-quality biopharmaceuticals in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.