One of the fastest growing segments of the world’s pharmaceutical markets is the market for biotechnologically produced biosimilar drugs. Biosimilar products provide treatment that is as effective and safe as the original biotechnology drugs, but at the same time much more cost-effective, reducing the financial burden on health insurers and facilitating patient access to that therapy. Richter’s management made a strategic decision in 2006 to enter this new area of high intellectual added value. Today, the company has a plant and production capacity based on microbial fermentation (Richter-Helm Biologics, Germany) and mammalian protein cell-based product development (Debrecen).
The development of biosimilar teriparatide, which won the Innovation Grand Prize this year under the brand name Terrosa®, required the introduction of several new, innovative solutions to be successful. Terrosa®’s entry into the market in 2019 proves the success of Richter’s strategic decision in 2006, as its first result was the introduction of a product with which the Company achieved outstanding sales revenue for the Hungarian economy and the Hungarian pharmaceutical industry, thus achieving the ideal ‘invented and made in Hungary’ economic development concept.
Gábor Orbán, CEO of Gedeon Richter Plc, said in connection with winning the Innovation Grand Prize: “We are extremely proud to have won the Innovation Grand Prize again after three years, this time with a product that is the first proprietary biosimilar product in our strategically important biotechnology business and that is making an increasingly significant contribution to our sales. Through Terrosa®, which was launched in August 2019, first in Europe and then around the world, we have expanded the options for many patients, making it easier to access therapy.”
Osteoporosis is a disorder of the skeletal system in which loss of bone mass, damage to the microarchitecture, and deterioration of bone quality lead to increased fragility. Due to societal aging, osteoporosis is one of the major public health challenges of our day; due to its high prevalence and long asymptomatic nature, this disease is rightly considered a silent epidemic of our time. In most cases, it will only be detected after fracture(s) as a complication have already occurred.
Terrosa® is currently marketed outside the European Union in many countries around the world, including Switzerland, Japan, Canada, and Australia, directly by Gedeon Richter Plc or its partners, generating significant sales.
Further information:
Zsuzsa Beke, Head of PR and Government Relations, Gedeon Richter Plc
Phone: +36-1-431-4888
Email: zs.beke@richter.hu