Aurobindo arm, Orion expand licensing deal to commercialize biosimilars pipeline in select European markets

Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma Limited (along with its subsidiaries together referred to as "Aurobindo") has announced that its subsidiary CuraTeQ Biologics Pvt Ltd. has expanded the scope of its marketing and distribution agreement with Orion Corporation to commercialize its biosimilars pipeline to include the Baltic states in Europe.

Earlier in 2020, CuraTeQ and Orion had entered into a licensing agreement, granting marketing and distribution rights for CuraTeQ's biosimilar products under development in the Nordic states, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Orion will be responsible for commercialization of CuraTeQ's biosimilar products, currently in various stages of development/filing for the partnered territories. CuraTeQ will leverage Aurobindo's established commercial presence in the nine European markets, including United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal to commercialise the biosimilar products in these markets (nonpartnered).

CuraTeQ filed its first oncology biosimilar product with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in September 2021 and filed its second biosimilar product, also in the oncology segment on January 10, 2022.

Virve Laitinen, SVP Specialty Products of Orion Corporation said, "We are pleased to further expand our longterm collaboration with Aurobindo and CuraTeQ. Overall, this agreement will strengthen Orion's position as one of the leading generics providers in the Nordics and Baltics as we can make these cost-effective treatments available for health care professionals and patients."

"Orion has a demonstrated and proven track record of successfully commercializing biosimilars in the Nordic and Baltic states in Europe. Orion's understanding of the biosimilars adoption along with extensive commercial infrastructure in the NORDICS and other territories in the EEA make it an ideal partner to expand the accessibility of our biosimilar products in selected markets of Europe, complementing our group's wide footprint in other European markets." said Dr. Satakarni Makkapati, CEO of CuraTeQ.

Mr. Nithyananda Reddy, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd said, "We remain committed to expand the reach of our affordable, high quality products to patients globally and the strengthening of partnership with Orion provides our biosimilar products a pan-Europe access. We are encouraged with our progress on biosimilars development and look forward to execution of the same in the coming years."

Read also: Aurobindo Pharma launches COVID-19 drug Molnupiravir