Alvotech and Yangtze River forge biosimilar deal for Chinese market

Robert Wessman

The partnership will focus on commercializing eight biosimilar medicines in China for the domestic market

The initial pipeline contains biosimilar candidates for treatment in the fields of autoimmunity, ophthalmology, and oncology, as well as for treating severe immune and inflammatory conditions.

Alvotech and CAHT will be jointly responsible for the development, registration, and supply of their biosimilars in China, whereas Yangtze River Pharmaceutical will exclusively commercialize the biosimilar candidates.

China is the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market, and this new collaboration follows Alvotech’s recent global partnerships with, for example, Teva Pharmaceuticals in the US market and Stada for key European markets.

The manufacturing of these biosimilar candidates for the Chinese market will be made in a new state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical facility, currently being built in Changchun, China, through the CAHT partnership.

The manufacturing site will host best-in-class technology, including disposable single-use bioreactors. The first Phase of the facility is expected to be completed in 2021.

Robert Wessman, Founder and Chairman of Alvotech, said that through this commercial relationship, Alvotech and CAHT will gain "extremely valuable" access to Yangtze River Pharmaceutical’s "strong brand reputation and market experience" in China.