[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Celltrion announced on the 19th that it has signed a contract with global pharmaceutical company Teva for the contract manufacturing organization (CMO) supply of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for the new migraine treatment drug 'Ajovy (AJOVY, generic name fremanezumab)'.
The contract is valued at approximately 110 billion KRW, which is about 5.8% of last year's sales. The supply contract period is from today until March 31, 2024.
Ajovy is a long-acting antibody therapy that prevents headaches in patients with episodic or chronic migraine by inhibiting CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) and received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2018.
Celltrion has collaborated with Teva since 2015, transferring technology and scaling up production for Ajovy, and began full-scale commercial production in 2017.
By signing the API supply contract for Ajovy again this year, Celltrion is evaluated to have once again demonstrated its global-level antibody drug production technology. The cumulative supply contract amount to date, including this contract, is approximately 353 billion KRW.
A Celltrion official stated, “While focusing on the development and production of our own antibody biopharmaceuticals, we have maintained a friendly relationship with our long-term partner Teva and have continued discussions on CMO supply. We will do our best for sustainable growth by selectively advancing the API CMO business targeting the global market to generate additional company revenue.”
Teva is Celltrion Group’s North American partner and is also responsible for marketing and sales of Celltrion’s blood cancer treatment Truxima and breast cancer treatment Herzuma in the North American region.
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