Celltrion Accelerates Entry into Peru... Wins Public Bids for Remsima and Herzuma

Celltrion is accelerating its expansion into Latin America by entering all products launched in the Peruvian market into the public bidding market.

Celltrion's autoimmune disease treatment 'Remsima'
Photo by Celltrion

Celltrion announced on the 2nd that it has recently succeeded in consecutive government bids held in Peru. First, in the bid by the Peruvian Social Health Insurance (EsSalud), Remsima, an autoimmune disease treatment, was awarded the contract. This bid is the largest, accounting for 81% of the total volume of infliximab in Peru. Through this, Remsima is scheduled to be supplied for one year starting from late this month. Including the volume supplied to some private markets, Remsima's market share in Peru is expected to reach 86%.

Next, in the bid by the Peruvian Ministry of Health (CENARES), Celltrion succeeded in winning the bid for Herzuma, a biosimilar for breast and stomach cancer treatment. Herzuma’s active ingredient, trastuzumab, accounts for 50% of the market size in Peru’s bidding. Herzuma will be supplied for one year starting from July.

With this, following the public institution bids won in February for the anticancer drug Truxima and the autoimmune disease treatment Yuflyma, all four products launched in Peru have succeeded in public bids this year. The pharmaceutical market in Peru is largely dominated by government bids. Celltrion evaluated that by continuously monitoring past bid participation data and trends of competitors, comprehensively analyzing supply volume and bid prices, and implementing a marketing strategy, as well as maintaining ongoing communication through its local subsidiary with medical professionals, regulatory agencies, and public institutions in Peru to build a network and pursue tailored strategies, it achieved contract awards for all launched products.

In addition, Celltrion plans to launch Vegzelma, an anticancer biosimilar used for the treatment of colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, in Peru within this month.

Lim Byung-yeol, head of Celltrion Peru-Chile subsidiary, said, “Based on the direct sales competitiveness of the local subsidiary in Peru, a key country in Latin America, we have recorded bidding success for all products and are focusing on preparing strategies to achieve good results in the upcoming public institution bids scheduled for the second half of this year. As follow-up products such as RemsimaSC and Vegzelma are set to be sequentially launched across Latin America this year, we will strengthen our marketing capabilities to expand the achievements made in Peru throughout the region.”