The second successfully out-licensed biosimilar in the product pipeline is ABY-021, which is a humanized monoclonal antibody for treating immunological symptoms.
The out-licensing partner is once again a leading medium-sized Chinese pharmaceuticals company, which has thus secured the rights to market ABY-021 in China. The licensing helps amp biosimilars to secure complete financing for the development and approval processes starting from Clinical Phase I on through to production and marketing of the biosimilar in China. The global rights outside of China remain with amp biosimilars and allow the issuance of further licenses to other pharmaceutical companies around the world, creating potential for additional earnings.
In addition to the financing of product development up to the approval process, amp biosimilars will receive royalties starting from the marketing launch of the biosimilar, which may be worth hundreds of millions of euros.
"The second out-licensing in such a short period of time is a very important milestone for amp biosimilars," explains Dr. Marc W. Hentz, Chief Executive Officer of amp biosimilars AG. "Our partners are acknowledging that our unique approach means we can develop biosimilars more affordably and efficiently than any of our competitors and that we have wide-ranging experience and the extensive technological skill in the biosimilar field.
In addition we are also confirming our decisive competitive advantage: Strategic access to the fastest growing pharmaceuticals markets. Our company can thus outpace growth on the overall market."
"This out-licensing is incredibly important for our company and a huge success. The deal illustrates our importance in the market place and is recognition of our business model as it differs from many competitors like for example Coherus, Sandoz or Quintiles by focusing on ‘pharmerging markets’," adds Dr. Knut Adermann, Chief Technology Officer at amp biosimilars AG. "It is an impressive sign that we have the unique opportunity to grow faster than other market participants in this very interesting segment."
amp biosimilars views this second out-licensing within a short period as confirmation of the strategic focus with further transactions to follow soon. The initial out-licensing of ABY-018, which amp biosimilars disclosed a few weeks ago, provided shareholders with undiluted project financing up to approval as well as cumulative earnings potential worth hundreds of millions of euros. In addition, amp biosimilars will now have a leading position on the Chinese biosimilars market, which will become the largest in the world by 2017 and thus succeed Europe.