Sandoz picks up Coherus’ Lucentis for $170m

For its third quarter 2023, Coherus' net product sales of Climeri increased to $40 million from $26.7 million in Q2. Despite positive sales data, the firm has agreed to divest Cimerli and its supporting commercial infrastructure to Sandoz for an upfront payment of $170 million and an undisclosed amount for the biosimilar’s product inventory.

“Since entering the ophthalmology market in 2022, we have gained strong market share and created significant value in a non-core therapeutic area by leveraging our buy-and-bill commercial expertise. We believe it is prudent to now monetize these non-core assets to pay down debt, reduce interest costs, and take the opportunity to focus on our core therapeutic area, oncology,” said Denny Lanfear, CEO of Coherus.

Coherus acquired the US commercial rights in November 2019 to commercialize the version of Lucentis (ranibizumab) from Bioeq. And in August 2022, Cimerli received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and launched two months later. It is the first and only FDA-approved biosimilar interchangeable with Roche’s Lucentis and aims to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), as well as other eye conditions. 

While Coherus has long been associated with biosimilars, in 2021 the firm acquired the North American rights to the anti-PD-1 antibody toripalimab through a $150 million deal with Shanghai, China-based firm Junshi Biosciences. Furthermore, the company doubled down on innovative immuno-oncology  drugs in June last year with the purchase of Surface Oncology in a stock transaction worth $65 million.

Lanfear said the divestiture will enable Coherus to decrease its “headcount and overhead costs,” which will then help increase its “sustainable and growing oncology business.”

“I am pleased that we can add another high-value product to the growing Sandoz biosimilar portfolio, further strengthening our existing ophthalmology franchise. The addition of Cimerli reinforces our commitment to biosimilars and represents a huge step towards our goal of pioneering patient access to more affordable and much-needed medicines in the US,” Keren Haruvi, president of Sandoz North America.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

Newly separated Sandoz

In 2018, Novartis granted its generic and biosimilar medicine division Sandoz more autonomy and said it was “completely committed” to the business. However, following a strategic review in August 2022, the Swiss firm established a separation plan and completed the spin-off in October 2023.  

Lucentis is a revenue maker for ex-owner Novartis, whichholds the rights to commercialize the product outside of the US via a license from Genentech. For the full year 2022, Lucentis generated $1.9 billion in sales, 13% less than the previous year.