Samsung Bioepis' Five Biosimilars Achieve $166 Million in Sales in the First Half of the Year

Samsung Bioepis New Headquarters Exterior (Photo by Samsung Bioepis)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] It has been revealed that five biosimilars sold through Samsung Bioepis's overseas marketing partner Organon generated sales of $166 million (approximately 193.1 billion KRW) in the first half of this year.

Samsung Bioepis announced on the 13th that its marketing partner Organon disclosed its second-quarter earnings on the 12th (local time). Organon is a company spun off from multinational pharmaceutical company MSD to specialize in women's health-focused healthcare and biosimilar sales, and it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June. Accordingly, the overseas market biosimilar product rights that Samsung Bioepis had contracted with MSD were transferred to Organon, and product sales were disclosed through this first earnings announcement.

Currently, Samsung Bioepis is selling five biosimilar products in cooperation with marketing partners such as Organon and Biogen: three autoimmune disease treatments (▲Renflexis (Remicade biosimilar) ▲SB4 (Enbrel biosimilar) ▲SB5 (Humira biosimilar)) and two anticancer drugs (▲Ontruzant (Herceptin biosimilar) ▲Avsola (Avastin biosimilar)).

According to Organon, these five biosimilars recorded sales of $86 million (approximately 100.1 billion KRW) in the second quarter, a 6.2% increase compared to $70 million in the same period last year. The combined sales for the first half reached $166 million (approximately 193.1 billion KRW), showing a growth rate of 29.7% year-over-year.

The product with the highest sales among these was Renflexis (European launch name 'Flixabi'), the Remicade biosimilar. Renflexis posted sales of $43 million (approximately 50 billion KRW) in the second quarter and $81 million (approximately 94.2 billion KRW) in the first half. These figures represent increases of 43.3% and 37.3%, respectively, compared to the same periods last year. Notably, sales in the U.S. market for the second quarter reached $36 million (approximately 41.9 billion KRW), showing a 28.6% growth year-over-year.

Samsung Bioepis is also selling two anticancer drugs (Ontruzant and Avsola), whose market size is continuously expanding, through Organon after their launch. Among these, Ontruzant, a Herceptin biosimilar for breast cancer treatment, achieved overseas sales of $22 million (approximately 2.55 billion KRW) in the second quarter this year. Sales of Avsola, launched in Europe at the end of last year, are also steadily expanding in major European countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom.

A Samsung Bioepis official stated, “Organon plans to pursue a focused strategy specializing in areas such as biosimilars,” adding, “We plan to cooperate more closely in the future to expand product sales.”

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