Amgen moves into Japanese market with Astellas deal
pharmafile | May 29, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Amgen, Astellas, Vectibix, Zhejiang
Amgen and Astellas have announced a new collaboration that will see them launch five new medicines in Japan from 2016, while also giving Amgen a base in the country.
Amgen has previously said that it planned to expand its business into major Asian markets, and in February called its lack of presence in Japan and China ‘a noticeable gap’.
Early in May the world’s biggest biotech company announced it was expanding its activities in China by establishing a joint venture with Zhejiang Beta Pharma Co, to help sell its colon cancer drug Vectibix.
Combining this deal with its new alliance with Astellas will help the firm get a strong foothold in Asia. And for its partner the deal will enable Astellas to develop oncology treatments with Amgen, something the company sees as a core therapy area for its future.
The alliance between the two companies will focus on the developing and selling of five medicines currently in Amgen’s pipeline in Japan over the coming decade.
This includes two drugs for gastric cancer – a large unmet medical need in Asia – as well as treatments for blood cancer, bone diseases and hyperlipidaemia.
The most advanced is the biologic romosozumab, which is currently in Phase III testing for osteoporosis, which Amgen expects to launch in 2016 in Japan should it receive marketing approval.
The new alliance will also see the two firms create a joint venture company in Tokyo – the global HQ for Astellas – that will be named ‘Amgen Astellas BioPharma KK’.
Amgen says this will be used to help the firm build a strong base from which to launch new products in the country.
It is expected that the JV will begin on 1 October of this year, and will become a wholly owned Amgen unit by 2020, although the firm said the long-term collaboration with Astellas will continue after this date.
Robert Bradway, chairman and chief executive at Amgen said: “Through this alliance, Amgen will work closely with Astellas to leverage its extensive knowledge of the local market.”
“With Astellas’ strong capabilities and excellent reputation, this alliance will help accelerate development and commercialisation of Amgen medicines for patients in Japan. This alliance reflects our long-term commitment to the Japan market and is an important step in our global expansion efforts.”
Yoshihiko Hatanaka, president and chief executive of Astellas, said they look forward to entering the alliance with Amgen as it will as enable the firm to obtain growth drivers. He added: “We will work closely with Amgen to build the joint venture, which will provide innovative medicines to patients in Japan.”
Ben Adams
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