Dr Reddy's expands collaboration with US-based Amgen in India

The Hyderabad-headquartered Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd has expanded its strategic collaboration with Amgen, the US-based biotechnology company, to market and distribute three of Amgen’s medicines in India in the therapy areas of oncology and osteoporosis. Under the terms of the collaboration, Dr Reddy’s will commercialise Xgeva (denosumab), Vectibix (panitumumab) and Prolia (denosumab) in the country.

In 2015, Dr Reddy’s announced an initial strategic collaboration with Amgen to execute a full range of regulatory and commercial services to seek approval of and launch Amgen’s Kyprolis (carfilzomib), Blincyto (blinatumomab) and Repatha (evolocumab) in India. The collaboration leverages the capabilities of both companies, combining Amgen's innovative therapies with Dr Reddy’s deep understanding of patient and physician needs in India.

“We are delighted to continue our relationship with Amgen as it strengthens our constant endeavour to enhance patient’s access to novel treatment options across therapy areas. These medicines provide unique treatment options to physicians to address unmet medical need in the area of oncology and osteoporosis,” commented M V Ramana, executive vice president and head of emerging markets and India business, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Limited.

Penny Wan, Amgen vice president and general manager, Japan Asia Pacific Region, added, “We are happy to strengthen our relationship with Dr Reddy’s. Amgen is committed to addressing unmet medical needs of patients in India, and we are pleased with the commitment Dr Reddy’s has demonstrated toward making our medicines available in India as quickly as possible.”

Xgeva is a Rank ligand (RANKL) inhibitor and is approved in India for the prevention of skeletal related events in patients with advanced malignancies involving bone.

Vectibix is an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antagonist approved in India for the treatment of adult patients with wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer (m-CRC) as first line treatment as monotherapy following disease progression, in wild type RAS m-CRC as first-line combination with FOLFOX and in second line in combination with FOLFIRI after prior treatment with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy (excluding irinotecan).

Prolia is a RANKL inhibitor approved in India for treatment of post-menopausal women with osteoporosis at high risk for fracture and also for treatment of increased bone mass in men with osteoporosis. Often referred to as the ‘silent epidemic’, osteoporosis is a global problem that is increasing in significance as the population of the world both increases and ages.