Sandoz initiates trials of two biosimilar therapies

Sandoz has announced the commencement of two pivotal phase III clinical studies of biosimilar therapies.

The first of these trials involves a biosimilar version of Amgen's breast cancer drug filgrastim and will compare its efficacy against the reference product, while the other will evaluate pegfilgrastim, an equivalent of Amgen's Neulasta.

Sandoz already markets the filgrastim biosimilar in more than 30 countries under the name Zarzio, with the latest trial designed to support its commercialisation in the US, the largest global biosimilar market.

Should the new products be developed successfully, they will join products such as Omnitrope and Binocrit in Sandoz's growing biosimilar portfolio.

Jeff George, global head of Sandoz, said: "These two development milestones demonstrate that we continue our efforts to make good on the longer-term promise of our leading pipeline."

Mr George was recently named in Fortune magazine's Top 40 Under 40 list for 2011, putting him among the leading 40 young business leaders across a wide variety of industries.