Uflyma Expands Territory in Italy... Celt Healthcare Wins State Government Bid

Uplima Wins Bids from 5 State Governments
Adalimumab Market in Italy Accounts for About 20%

Celltrion Healthcare's Humira biosimilar for autoimmune disease treatment, Uplyma (generic name: adalimumab), continues to achieve contract wins in the Italian tender market.

Humira biosimilar 'Yuflyma'.
[Photo by Celltrion Healthcare]

Celltrion Healthcare announced on the 18th that Uplyma successfully won bids in the third quarter of this year for government tenders held by the Campania, Umbria, Piedmont, Molise, and Aosta Valley regional governments in Italy.

These five regional governments account for about 20% of the Italian adalimumab market. In some regions, supply of Uplyma began in August, and according to mutual contracts, it will be supplied for 1 to 3 years depending on the region.

Celltrion Healthcare explained that Uplyma’s product strengths as the biosimilar most similar to the original drug Humira have positively influenced the tender competition. Previously, in the first quarter, Uplyma also succeeded in winning adalimumab tenders held in the Emilia-Romagna and Veneto regions of Italy.

In particular, it was noted that Uplyma’s competitiveness is enhanced by being the only high-concentration biosimilar in Italy with an 80 mg dosage, which has led to a market preemption effect. As a result, tenders targeting only high-concentration adalimumab products were held in the Lombardy and Lazio regions, where Uplyma won the bids.

Celltrion Healthcare emphasized that the experience and know-how accumulated through direct sales of three existing products in Europe have contributed to the expansion of prescriptions for subsequent products. In fact, thanks to the expanded prescriptions of Uplyma in Europe, it achieved sales of 54 billion KRW in the first half of this year alone, surpassing last year’s annual sales in just six months. This is also the highest performance ever recorded.

The company stated that it is competing in tenders by establishing customized strategies that consider the characteristics of different tender entities such as regional governments and private hospitals through its local subsidiaries established in Europe. Celltrion Healthcare plans to continue expanding prescriptions in Europe based on Uplyma’s unique product competitiveness, especially with the upcoming approval of the 20 mg dosage for pediatric patients expected by the end of this year.

Won-sik Yoo, head of Celltrion Healthcare’s Italy branch, said, "The synergy between proven commercial capabilities and product competitiveness through existing products is rapidly expanding tender contract wins, and it is meaningful that Uplyma has established itself as a key product driving European sales." He added, "We plan to take a more proactive role in national tenders not only in Italy but throughout Europe, and we will do our best to deliver Celltrion Healthcare’s drugs, which have demonstrated excellent therapeutic efficacy and safety, to more patients."

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