Natco Pharma has entered into an exclusive agreement with Mabxience, part of Chemo Sa Lugano of Switzerland.
Mabxience is the bio-similar division of the Swiss multinational, which is involved in different pharmaceutical businesses. Natco will purchase four drug substances (biogenerics) from Chemo Sa Lugano and use them for manufacturing finished dosage pharma formulations.
Three of these products—Tastuzumab, Bevacizumab and Rituximab — belong to the oncology segment, while Etanercept is for auto-immune disorders. Biogenerics are biopharmaceutical products developed using biological processes.
The Hyderabad-based Natco's responsibility under the agreement will include manufacture of drug products, undertaking local clinical trials, filing registration of dossiers, apply for market authorisations and to commercialise it in India and a few other Asian countries.
Oncology is the largest therapy area within the biogenerics market, with eight marketed products. World-wide, the market for biogenerics is around $35 billion.
Natco, which intends to enter the biogenerics sector through this venture, expects to complete its obligations under the agreement between 24 to 36 months.