Key takeaways from Cipla’s first biosimilar launch

On April 17, Cipla launched its first biosimilar drug in India. The product is Etacept, a branded biosimilar of Pfizer's Enbrel (etanercept). The drug treats rheumatoid arthritis (RA) an autoimmune disease that leads to painful and debilitating inflammation, predominantly of the joints, and is estimated to impact 0.7 per cent of the Indian population above …

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The Y K Hamied Interview : Part Three

On February 6, Cipla announced that its chairman and managing director Yusuf Hamied would step down as managing director, as of March 31, four decades after he assumed the role following the demise of his father and Cipla founder K A Hamied.  He will continue as non-executive chairman. In this conversation, Hamied makes known his rarely-expressed …

The Y K Hamied Interview : Part Two

As India considers granting more compulsory licences on patented drugs to improve reach and affordability some experts have predicted more voluntary licensing deals - where the innovator voluntarily gives a licence to a generic company to sell its product and hopes to avoid a compulsory licence. Cipla, a leading patent challenger in India, has yet …

Cipla hires former Teva/GSK honcho to head global respiratory

Mumbai-based generic drugs producer Cipla has recruited Frank Pieters a former senior vice-president at global generics leader Teva of Israel to head its European business, said two persons familiar with the development. India's third-largest drug maker by sales has also put Pieters in charge of its global respiratory portfolio which has a pipeline of high-potential …

NICE, Nexavar, and why it matters

There has been some strong media and patient outrage in the UK over a decision to not make available Bayer's Nexavar, a drug for terminally-ill liver cancer patients, through the National Health Service.  UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - referred to as the NHS' drug rationing body by the UK media - …