Russia's Geropharm plots leading role in domestic insulin market

Russian drugmaker Geropharm plans to become one of the leading players in the domestic insulins market within the next several years, with the possible launch of a biosimilar of ultra-long-acting insulin, produced by the Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N), as well as a further expansion of its portfolio.

Despite the fact that in 2014 the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) postponed the end of the protection of Novo Nordisk’s insulin from 2024 to 2028 in the Russian market, Geropharm still has plans to launch its biosimilar of Tresiba (insulin degludec), reports The Pharma Letter’s localcorrespondent.

In May 2020, the Russian company demanded to recognize the actions of Rospatent as illegal and oblige it to cancel the prolongation of a patent for Novo Nordisk’s insulin, however these claims were rejected by the Russian Intellectual Property Court on January 2021. At present this ultra-long-acting drug (more than 42 hours) is represented in the market by Tresiba and, in combination with ultra-short-acting insulin, Ryzodeg (insulin degludec + insulin aspart), being registered in 2013.