Others to follow Enbrel biosimilar launch in Australia, Merck & Co says

5 April 2017

US pharma giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) has pledged to follow up the launch of a biosimilar etanercept in Australia with more copycat biologics, promising to spare the country’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from paying the full price of the reference products.

The original version of etanercept, which is indicated for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), plaque psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, is sold by US biotech major Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) under the name Enbrel, while Merck has called its biosimilar Brenzys.

"This is an important milestone given that it represents real progress in our efforts to offer Australian patients and healthcare professionals a pipeline of high-quality biosimilars in the future"

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