[THE INVESTOR] South Korea‘s Celltrion Healthcare will ship 260 billion won (US$227.81 million) worth of a Remicade biosimilar developed by its affiliate Celltrion to the US by the end of 2016, the company said on Oct. 27. 



Celltrion Healthcare, drug maker Celltrion’s overseas marketing affiliate, received a purchase order from US pharma giant Pfizer which holds exclusive rights to commercialize Celltrion’s autoimmune disease drug Inflectra, a biosimilar version of Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade, in select markets, including the US and Canada.

In other regions, the drug is sold under the name Remsima.

On Oct. 18, the two firms said they would begin selling the Remicade biosimilar in the US from late November.

According to the Korean company, total accumulated exports of Remsima have exceeded 1 trillion won this month.

It took four years for Celltrion to reach the figure since the pharmaceutical firm shipped the first batch of the rheumatoid arthritis treatment drug in 2012.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)