New Delhi: Bengaluru-based drug-maker Biocon Tuesday announced partnership with international organisations to enhance access to its life-saving cancer medicines in lower- and middle-income countries.
With this, the company, Biocon Biologics — which is a subsidiary of Biocon Limited — has joined the list of companies, including Novartis, Pfizer, and Viatris, which distribute its drugs at subsidised prices and increase their access.
The company has partnered with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS), which has announced the expansion of the Cancer Access Partnership (CAP), to further increase access to life-saving cancer treatments in low-and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia.
Through the partnership, Biocon Biologics aims to enhance access to lifesaving cancer therapies, including bTrastuzumab and bPegfilgrastim, to patients, especially in Sub-Saharan and Asian regions.
“This expanded partnership will make 26 medications in 39 formulations affordably available to low- and middle-income countries across Africa and Asia, including key chemotherapies, hormonal therapies, biologics, and supportive therapies essential for the treatment of 30 cancers, including breast cancer,” said a press statement issued by the American Cancer Society.
The agreements will provide access to 25 regimens for the treatment of breast cancer— which is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer globally — and has the potential to generate an expected overall savings of 60 per cent on purchased medications for governments.
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Dr Iain Barton, CEO of CHAI, said in the statement, “The expanded partnership takes us another step closer to ensuring that the same cancer treatments are available to patients no matter where they live.”
The press statement added that the “addition of Biocon Biologics to the partnership, along with an expanded portfolio of biosimilars from Pfizer, will enable access to best-in-class therapies that are currently out of reach for patients in low-and middle-income countries”.
The agreements will now enable access to high quality Trastuzumab, Rituximab, and Pegfilgrastim biosimilars in addition to previously available biosimilar filgrastim from Novartis.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson, Biocon Biologics, said in the statement, “We are pleased to collaborate with CHAI and ACS for their Cancer Access Partnership (CAP) for patients in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.”
Biocon Biologics is committed to expand access to affordable biologics in low- and-middle-income countries through strategic partnerships with global health organisations, said the statement.
“Through CAP, our products will support the global efforts directed at expanding therapy options available to healthcare systems in several Asian and African countries for advancing the fight against cancer,” she said.
“This partnership further strengthens our resolve to address the unmet patient needs for high quality, affordable biosimilars for cancer like bTrastuzumab and bPegfilgrastim,” she said in the statement.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is among the distinguished founder-investors of ThePrint. Please click here for details on investors.
(Edited by Debalina Dey)
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