Celltrion said on the 16th that it launched the ophthalmic disease treatment "Eydenzelt (ingredient name aflibercept)" in major European countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom, early this month.
Eydenzelt is a biosimilar of the blockbuster eye treatment "EYLEA," co-developed by U.S.-based Regeneron and Germany's Bayer. EYLEA, the original drug, posted global sales of $9.523 billion (13.3322 trillion won) last year.
Celltrion's U.K. subsidiary secured bids in three administrative regions led by the National Health Service (NHS) at the same time as the Eydenzelt launch, successfully gaining an early foothold in the market. In particular, in the bid for northern England, the largest market, it achieved the result of being the only biosimilar to be officially listed.
Along with this, Celltrion also completed the launch of Eydenzelt in Portugal, one of the key tender markets in Europe. The strategy is to make a full-fledged push centered on national tenders, which account for about 60% of the overall market. The company plans to sequentially expand the European countries where Eydenzelt is sold through next year and speed up prescription growth.
In Feb., Celltrion obtained marketing authorization from the European Commission (EC) for two formulations of Eydenzelt—vial and pre-filled syringe (PFS). Eydenzelt holds major ophthalmic indications, including ▲ neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) ▲ macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion ▲ diabetic macular edema (DME) ▲ myopic choroidal neovascularization.
With this, Celltrion plans to actively leverage its years of direct sales experience with biosimilar products in Europe for Eydenzelt sales. Based on the medical network built through existing flagship products such as autoimmune disease treatments and anticancer drugs, the company aims for rapid market expansion in the eye disease field as well.
The company expects that supplying biopharmaceuticals at reasonable prices will help ease the healthcare budget burden of European countries and improve treatment access. Through a customized direct sales strategy that reflects the characteristics of each national market, it plans to pursue both early market leadership and prescription growth.
A Celltrion official said, "Based on our experience proving biosimilar competitiveness across Europe and our direct sales know-how, we will lead Eydenzelt's successful market entry," adding, "We will continue to expand the countries of launch through next year to provide more patients with treatment options and quickly broaden our influence in Europe's eye disease market."