India's Lupin Ltd. said its biosimilar medicine worked as well as Amgen Inc. and Pfizer Inc.'s Enbrel to treat rheumatoid arthritis, a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints.
Lupin has partnered with Japanese generic drug manufacturer Yoshindo Inc. to commercialize the drug, known as YLB113, which was studied in a late-stage trial that included more than 500 patients from 11 countries, including Japan, India and parts of Europe.
Based on the results of the phase 3 trial, the biosimilar was therapeutically equivalent to the reference medicine.
The companies now plan to pursue global approval of YLB113. If approved, the medicine will compete with Enbrel, also known as etanercept, which had a global market of $11 billion at the end of the 2017 third quarter, according to Quintiles IMS data.
