New Product to Bring in EUR 100 Million a Year for Pharmaceutical Giant Richter

Hungary Today 2024.10.11.

The acquisition of the European commercial rights to Stelara could boost the Hungarian pharmaceutical company Richter’s sales by EUR 100 million a year if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approves the drug in the near future, analysts at Erste have calculated.

The Hungarian company announced yesterday that it has been granted exclusive commercial rights to the biosimilar Stelara under a contract with Chinese firm Bio-Thera Solutions, writes Világgazdaság.

Fact

A biosimilar is a biological medicinal product that is highly similar to another biological medicinal product that is already authorized. Biosimilar medicinal products are approved according to the standards for pharmaceutical quality, safety, and efficacy that apply to all biological medicinal products. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is responsible for assessing the majority of marketing applications for biosimilar medicines in the European Union (EU).

The drug, developed by a Chinese sector partner for the treatment of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis, will thus be sold exclusively by Richter

in the European Union
in the UK
in Switzerland

and other countries covered by the agreement.

Erste’s commentary highlights that

the originator’s sales are around USD 11 billion worldwide and USD 3.9 billion in the EU.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J), manufacturing the originator product, reached an agreement with competitors earlier this year to keep biosimilars on the market until after 2025, despite the fact that the drug’s patent protection has expired.

This means that Richter is also likely to be able to market the product from the second half of next year. The Hungarian company is likely to have to share the market with six competitors, while the biosimilar could be 15-35% cheaper than the original version. Erste expects that

if biosimilars capture 50% of the market, Richter is likely to expect sales of this product to exceed EUR 100 million per year once sales pick up.

The move is also an important milestone for Richter’s biotech business to become profitable by around 2027.

Gedeon Richter Plc. headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, is a major pharmaceutical company in Central and Eastern Europe, with an expanding direct presence in Western Europe, China, Latin America, and Australia. The product portfolio of Richter covers many important therapeutic areas, including Women’s Healthcare, Central Nervous System (CNS), and Cardiovascular areas. Having the largest R&D unit in Central and Eastern Europe, Richter’s original research activity focuses on CNS disorders. With its widely acknowledged steroid chemistry expertise, Richter is a significant player in the Women’s Healthcare field worldwide.

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Via Világgazdaság; Featured image via Hungary Today