Alvotech Holdings S.A. (“Alvotech”), a global biopharmaceutical company focused solely on the development and manufacture of biosimilar medicines for patients worldwide, and Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company’s securities are expected to be traded on NASDAQ under the symbol “ALVO.”
Company Overview
Alvotech, founded in 2013 in Reykjavik, Iceland, is a vertically integrated platform company focused exclusively on developing and manufacturing biosimilar medicines for the global market. Alvotech has a world class management team of proven and highly experienced pharmaceuticals executives with deep expertise in biologics and biosimilars, led by a visionary founder, Robert Wessman, who has a track record of building global biopharmaceutical companies.
Alvotech is dedicated to transforming patients’ lives by improving access to affordable biosimilar medicines and enhancing the sustainability of healthcare systems. A biosimilar medicine, offered at lower costs, is a biological product that is highly similar to and has no clinically meaningful difference from an existing approved biologic. Biologics are large complex molecules that have become the standard of care for many difficult-to-treat conditions. The global markets for biologic and biosimilar medicines have been rapidly growing over the last decade and are forecasted to grow at a 10%+ CAGR, reaching approximately $555 billion and approximately $80 billion by 2026, respectively1. By establishing the critical infrastructure needed to navigate the complexities inherent in developing biosimilar medicines at a global scale, Alvotech is uniquely positioned to succeed in the rapidly growing biosimilars market and to enable the global healthcare system to reduce the high cost of biologic medicines.
Alvotech aims to become a leading supplier of biosimilar medicines in all major markets around the world. To accomplish this objective, Alvotech has built a distinctive and comprehensive platform for developing and manufacturing biosimilars at scale over the past nine years with approximately $1 billion invested into the business to build critical elements of product development, including cell line development, process development and characterization, in addition to manufacturing, clinical development and conducting regulatory affairs, in-house to ensure the highest standards of product quality.
Alvotech currently has seven products in its pipeline across multiple therapeutic areas. Alvotech’s pipeline addresses originator products treating a diverse set of conditions across autoimmunity, ophthalmology, osteoporosis, and oncology, with total estimated peak originator sales of more than $80 billion combined.
Alvotech's most advanced product is AVT02, the company’s biosimilar candidate to Humira®. Humira is the world’s top selling pharmaceutical product with over $20 billion in global revenue in 2020. Alvotech was the first company to both file with the FDA for approval of its high-concentration adalimumab product and to have successfully conducted a switching study in support of an FDA designation of interchangeability. Alvotech’s other differentiated pipeline programs include biosimilar candidates to Stelara® (ustekinumab), Eylea® (aflibercept), Prolia®/Xgeva® (denosumab) and Simponi®/Simponi ARIA® (golimumab). In addition to its existing pipeline, Alvotech is also constantly evaluating new pipeline programs, both internally and through business development.
In order to give its products global reach, Alvotech has formed strategic commercialization partnerships covering 60+ countries with leading pharmaceutical companies. Alvotech’s partners, including Teva in the US and Stada in the EU, have licensed products in exchange for milestone payments and royalties. As of June 30, 2021, Alvotech had received license fee commitments of up to $1.15 billion under these partnerships, approximately 80% of which are still to be collected.
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