Samsung Bioepis announced its expansion into the Brazilian biopharmaceutical market. The first product available in the country is BRENZYS™ (etanercept), a biosimilar referencing ENBREL®. BRENZYS™ was approved by Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (ANVISA), the country’s health regulatory agency, in December 2017 for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.
Samsung Bioepis is continuing its business expansion in multiple markets across the world, including mainland China, where the company entered into partnerships with 3SBio and C-Bridge Capital to develop and commercialize multiple biosimilar candidates from Samsung Bioepis.
BRENZYS™ is being supplied to Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), the country’s public health system, through a Productive Development Partnership (PDP) between Samsung Bioepis and local partners, Bionovis and Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz.
Under the PDP, Samsung Bioepis will supply biosimilar products or product intermediaries to the local partners for sale to SUS for a period of 10 years. During this period, Samsung Bioepis will provide technology transfer to the local partners, so that manufacturing responsibilities can be gradually transferred to enable local manufacturing in Brazil. The PDP scheme was introduced by the Brazilian government in 2008, in order to expand access to medicines and support the country’s pharmaceutical industry through technology transfer from established companies in return for guaranteed purchases from SUS.
“We are excited to provide our high-quality biosimilars to patients across Brazil, and look forward to working with our local partners to enhance patient access to high-quality healthcare. Equally important, by sharing our scientific knowledge with our local partners, we hope to do our part in contributing to the long-term development of the Brazilian biopharmaceutical industry,” said Sang-Jin Pak, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial Division, Samsung Bioepis. “At Samsung Bioepis, we will continue to demonstrate our enduring commitment to biosimilars by further strengthening our pipeline and widening their availability for patients and health care systems across the world.”