South Korea set for global biosimilars leadership

A Frost & Sullivan report has predicted significant growth in the South Korean biosimilars market between now and 2020.

South Korea is likely to become the global leader in the biosimilars market, according to the latest research from Frost & Sullivan.

By 2020, the country is expected to have emerged at the front of the pack, thanks in large part to its government's recent introduction of a regulatory pathway for manufacturing biologics.

Furthermore, the government provides financial and institutional support to help the market and a number of new products and segments are due to be launched between 2013 and 2016 as a result.

Frost & Sullivan predicts that the biosimilars market will earn revenues of $89.8 million in 2017, up from $62.3 million in 2011.

Poornima Srinivasan, a research analyst at the firm, explained the reasons for South Korea's focus on this type of drug.

She revealed: "The South Korean government considers biosimilars drug development significantly cheaper than new drug development.

"Moreover, biosimilars' time-to-market is half of new drugs', making them attractive investment options."
The market faces a number of challenges, including the large upfront investment required to develop biosimilars and the need to prove they are as clinically effective as original biologics.

However, the large number of patent expiries of original biologics between 2011 and 2019 will fuel the market, Ms Srinivasan added.