Is The Biosimilar for Roche’s Herceptin A Major Threat?
Mylan and Biocon Ltd have completed a Phase III study for biosimilar version of Roche’s Herceptin, which showed promising results. It was found that there was no significant difference between the two drugs in treating breast cancer. The objective response rate was 69% for the biosimilar as compared to 65% for Herceptin. With small molecule drug therapies, generic drugs are exact chemical copies of the original drug. With large molecule therapies, which are often large proteins, only the therapeutically actice portions of the molecule are copied, as it is infeasible to recreate the whole moelcule. Hence, they are called bisimilars, rather than generics. Biosimilars have only just started to break into the U.S. market, while they have been in the European market for several years. Other biosimilars for breast cancer are being developed by Pfizer, Celltrion, Amicod and Actavis. We expect a moderate revenue decline in the sales of Herceptin due to biosimilar competition.
Have more questions about Roche? See the links below.
- Roche’s Stock May Have Been Down, But The Company’s Business Has Strong Outlook
- What Drove 15% Growth in Roche’s Earnings Between 2011-2014 Even Though Other Big Pharma Companies Suffered A Decline?
- Why Is Market Assigning Low Earnings Multiple To Roche Despite Its Biotech Focus?
- Can Roche Grow Its Earnings By 15% In The Next 3 Years?
- With Biosimilars Getting Approval In Europe, Does Roche’s 2016 EPS Face A Meaningful Risk?
- How Can Roche Get 25% Boost In Revenues In 5 Years?
- Can Emerging Biosimilar Competition Cause > 10% Downside To Roche’s Valuation?
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