Russian drugmakers put pressure on Roche cancer therapies in domestic market

Russian pharmaceutical manufacturers have begun to compete for the production of generics based on bevacizumab, marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG: SIX) as Avastin, one of the most expensive and demanded cancer treatments, for which the value of state purchases currently exceeds 10 billion roubles ($136 million) a year, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

According to the Russian Kommersant business paper, so far, R-Pharm has registered a generic drug, based on bevacizumab under the Versavo brand in Russia. According to Russian state register of drugs, this is a product of the Indian Dr Reddy's Laboratories (BSE: 500124), production of which is localized at the facilities of R-Pharm to the finished dosage form.

Bevacizumab is one of the most commonly used drugs in the treatment of various types of cancer. According to the Russian analytics agency Headway Company, the value of its state purchases in 2020 amounted to 10.23 billion roubles. So far, bevacizumab in Russia has been represented only by the original Roche drug Avastin (which is packaged by the same R-Pharm) and the generic Avegra from domestic drugmaker Biocad.