Sanofi starts biosimilar insulin trials

Biosimilars/News | Posted 10/05/2013 post-comment0 Post your comment

Pharma giant Sanofi confirmed in its 2013 Q1 business report that its biosimilar insulin projects have entered into phase I of clinical development as planned. Sanofi intends to develop these insulin products in order to further enlarge the Sanofi diabetes portfolio and better serve the needs of people with diabetes.

Insulin 2 V13E10

Sanofi’s products will most likely be biosimilars of insulin blockbusters Humalog (insulin lispro) and NovoLog (insulin aspart), from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. The French drugmaker also makes an originator insulin itself, Lantus (insulin glargine), but does not see any conflict in also making biosimilar insulins, according to Professor Heinze Haenel, Project Director at Sanofi’s Diabetes Division. Lantus had sales of Euros 4.96 billion during 2012. Lantus’ patents expire in 2014 in Europe and the US.

The move into biosimilars is seen as an attempt to broaden its diabetes portfolio and alleviate competition in the insulin field from rivals including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Eli Lilly is developing a biosimilar version of Sanofi’s Lantus insulin, and in fact, of the three major players in the insulin market, only Novo Nordisk is still resisting going into biosimilars.

Sanofi is also planning to launch a combination of insulin Lantus and new diabetes treatment Lyxumia (lixisenatide), however, late-stage trials for this combination will not start in 2013 due to problems with the injecting device.

Related article

Mylan and Biocon to partner on insulin products

Permission granted to reproduce for personal and non-commercial use only. All other reproduction, copy or reprinting of all or part of any ‘Content’ found on this website is strictly prohibited without the prior consent of the publisher. Contact the publisher to obtain permission before redistributing.

Copyright – Unless otherwise stated all contents of this website are © 2013 Pro Pharma Communications International. All Rights Reserved.

comment icon Comments (0)
Post your comment
Related content
EC approval of first ustekinumab biosimilar Uzpruvo
IBD 1
Biosimilars/News Posted 16/01/2024
Most viewed articles
About GaBI
Home/About GaBI Posted 06/08/2009
EU guidelines for biosimilars
EMA logo 1 V13C15
Home/Guidelines Posted 08/10/2010