Biocon battered by forced withdrawal of biosimilar applications

16 August 2017

Biocon (BSE: 532523), an Indian drugmaker that together with Netherlands-headquartered Mylan (Nasdaq: MYL) is a frontrunner in the race to take big-selling biosimilars to major markets, has suffered a damaging blow affecting two of its oncology submissions in Europe.

Following Wednesday’s trading, Biocon’s share price was 6% down at 328.25 Indian rupees ($5.11), with markets taking a dim view of news that it has had to withdraw the applications to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

These were for biosimilars referencing Herceptin (trastuzumab), a big-seller from Swiss pharma major Roche (ROG: SIX) for certain HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers, and Neulasta (pegfilgrastim), a drug from US biotech Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) for low white blood cell counts in patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

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