June 16 -- Cipla Ltd., the Indian drugmaker that built a $1 billion business making generic HIV treatments, aims to sell copies of Roche Holding AG s and Amgen Inc. s best- selling biotechnology medicines with a partner in China.
Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied plans to invest in companies in India and Hong Kong that make so-called monoclonal antibodies. The technology will enable Mumbai-based Cipla to gain access to products modeled on Roche s Avastin and Herceptin cancer drugs and Amgen s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel, Hamied said.
The three medications generated $19 billion in sales last year. Cipla, India s third-largest drugmaker by revenue, intends to sell its versions cheaper, making them more affordable. The same strategy of copying medicines developed by others helped the 75-year-old company become one of the largest suppliers of AIDS pills for developing nations.
Avastin, Enbrel, Herceptin -- these are all being marketed today, but the prices are very high, said Hamied, whose father founded the company in 1935, in a telephone interview yesterday. We will have biosimilars for them.
Cipla jumped as much as 2.1 percent to 344.95 rupees in early trading and ended 1.4 percent lower from yesterday at 333.40 rupees. The benchmark Sensex index rose 0.3 percent.
Hamster Ovaries
Biotechnology drugs are made from proteins synthesized in living cells such as yeast and Chinese hamster ovaries. They are more complex, difficult to make and pricier than traditional pharmaceuticals, which consist of comparatively simple chemical compounds. Other Indian companies are expanding into this area.
Biocon Ltd., India s biggest biotechnology company, signed an agreement a year ago with Mylan Inc. to develop, make and market generic biologic drugs. Dr. Reddy s Laboratories Ltd., India s second-biggest drugmaker, said in 2007 it began selling a version of the cancer medicine rituximab at about half the price of Roche s original, called Rituxan.
Under an agreement with Shanghai-based partner Desano Pharma, Cipla will have rights to market the biosimilars in India and overseas, Hamied said. Cipla will invest $65 million over three years buying 40 percent of a company based in the west Indian city of Goa and a 25 percent stake in a Hong Kong- based biotechnology company, Cipla said in a statement yesterday.
Cipla is targeting 8 to 10 treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, colorectal cancer, allergic asthma, and head and neck cancer that aren t covered by patents in India and China, according to a statement on the company s website. The brand- name drugs generate about $30 billion a year in sales, Cipla said.
Patent Protection
Biotechnology drugs account for about 10 percent to 15 percent of the global pharmaceutical market and many of them are off-patent or will lose patent protection soon, Cipla said.
This investment will, therefore, enable Cipla to expand its business in this high technology and high growth segment, the company said.
Hamied said he may consider other sales and marketing ventures. I am not hunting for partners, but if something comes up, we have an open mind with regard to partnerships, he said.
