Samsung Bioepis’ biosimilar sales in European Union surpassed $500 million last year, data showed Wednesday.

According to the fourth-quarter earnings report of Biogen, Samsung Bioepis’ marketing partner in EU, the sales of three biosimilar products – Benepali, Flixabi, and Imraldi -- totaled $545.1 million in 2018, up 44 percent from the previous year.

Benepali (Ingredient: Etanercept) sales increased 31 percent year on year to $485.2 million, and those of Flixabi (Ingredient: Infliximab) rose 380 percent to $43.2 million. The sales off Imraldi (Ingredient: adalimumab), which was launched in October, also reached $16.7 million, 70 days after its launch.

In particular, Benepali sold $956.6 million since its launch in February 2016. About $856 million in sales, or 92 percent of the accumulative total, occurred in the past two years.

According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market information company, Benepali has increased its market share in the European Etanercept market to 41 percent, even surpassing that of the original product, Enbrel, and recording the largest market share in Germany.

It was the first time a biosimilar has exceeded the market share of an original drug in Germany, which has the largest auto-immune disease drug market in Europe worth about 2 trillion won.

Imraldi, which was launched along with its competitors from global pharmaceutical companies -- Amgen, Sandoz and Myla, has attained the top place in the adalimumab biosimilar market in Germany by taking up 62 percent in the first month of its launch, Biogen said.

The drug has also maintained its position as the top adalimumab biosimilar for two consecutive months since Biogen began to launch the product in Europe in November.

“Imraldi's first-quarter market penetration outperforms Benepali,” Biogen CFO Jeffrey Capello said in a conference call with Samsung Bioepis. “We expect sales of biosimilars to double in number this year, aided by Imraldi’s brisk performances.”

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