Tanvex BioPharma Inc (泰福生技), which focuses on supplying safe and affordable biosimilars, has obtained marketing approval in Canada for its TX01, a biosimilar of Neupogen (filgrastim), the company said yesterday.
Tanvex has signed contracts with Canada-based Mint Pharmaceuticals Inc authorizing the firm to sell TX01 in Canada, it said in a statement.
It is not known when sales of the drug would begin, as discussions with importers are required first and the COVID-19 pandemic might disrupt distribution, Tanvex said.
The prices for TX01 have yet to be decided, as the company still has to negotiate with private insurers, it said.
The gap between the prices of brand drugs and biosimilars is smaller than between brand drugs and generic drugs, as biosimilars require more research and development, and are more complex than generic drugs, Tanvex said.
Sales in Canada of Neupogen and its biosimilars reached more than C$100 million (US$80.68 million) in the 12 months to June, Tanvex said.
Amgen Inc’s Neupogen is used to treat chemotherapy-induced neutropenia and decreases the incidence of infection caused by febrile neutropenia, the company said.
Amgen filed a patent infringement claim against Tanvex in July 2019, but Tanvex reached an agreement with Amgen in March last year.
The company declined to reveal how much it agreed to pay Amgen.
“The expense was lower than the legal expenses if we had chosen to continue engaging in a lawsuit with Amgen,” a company official said by telephone yesterday.
Tanvex said obtaining approval in Canada has made it more confident of receiving approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), adding that it applied for a biologics license with the agency in October 2018.
The company expects to gain approval from the US FDA in the third quarter of next year, it said.
Tanvex’s cumulative revenue totaled NT$560,000 (US$19,989) for the first three quarters, up 86 percent from a year earlier.
For the first two quarters, it registered a net loss of NT$793 million, less than its net loss of NT$1.17 billion a year earlier, company data showed.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS