Aurobindo forays into biosimilars with Swiss acquisition

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Viswanath PillaMoneycontrolAurobindo Pharma in a major foray in biosimilar on Thursday said it has acquired of four cell culture derived biosimilar products from Switzerland-based TL Biopharmaceutical AG. As part of this agreement, TL Biopharmaceutical will supply all the developmental data for four molecules and Aurobindo will develop, commercialise and market these products globally. The branded market size of these four biosimilars, three of them monoclonal antibodies in oncology is very promising, the company said. Regulatory filing for these products is intended in the period 2020-22, it added.Aurobindo is preparing to take its lead molecule from this transaction, a Bevacizumab biosimilar, for clinical trials in 2017. Bevacizumab is an anti-antiogenesis drug used in treating multiple cancers, including metastatic colon or rectal cancer, non-squamous and non-small cell lung cancers."This transaction is a strategic investment for future growth and will position Aurobindo as a strong player in the rapidly evolving biosimilars landscape," the company said. "Building on these first four products licensed from TL, Aurobindo is expanding its diverse portfolio of eight more next wave of biosimilars ensuring a strong and diverse products pipeline," the company added. Aurobindo said it has set up a fully functional R&D center for biologics development and is also establishing a state-of-art manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, Telangana which would be ready by Q2FY18 "This acquisition is in line with our strategy of investing in complex products portfolio," said N Govindarajan, Managing Director of Aurobindo Pharmaon the deal.The deal will pit the Hyderabad-based drug maker against the likes of industry behemoth Biocon Ltd and others such as Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which are looking to launch biosimilars in Europe and other highly-regulated markets.Biosimilars are copies of complex biological drugs. Unlike generic drugs that are cheaper copies of branded chemical drugs, biosimilars are harder and more expensive to develop as they are made from living cells and cannot be identically replicated.The global biosimilar market is predicted to have sales of USD 25 billion by 2020, according to a 2014 Thomson Reuters report. Developed markets account for a lion’s share.