Teva, Celltrion Healthcare launch Herceptin biosimilar Herzuma

Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and gastric cancers have a new lower price treatment option.

Teva and Celltrion Healthcare are introducing Herzuma (trastuzumab-pkrb) for injection, a biosimilar to Genentech’s Herceptin.

“We are proud to make Herzuma available to patients in the United States living with HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers, and their providers,” Brendan O’Grady, Teva executive vice president, North America Commercial said. “The launch of Herzuma continues our commitment to help lower healthcare costs and increase price competition through the availability of biosimilars. Teva is continuing to invest in biopharmaceuticals as part of our long-term strategy for the future and to help patients around the world, and we look forward to additional milestones for our biosimilar products later this year.”

“We are pleased that Herzuma is now available to patients in the United States,” said Hyoung-Ki Kim, Celltrion vice-chairman said. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Teva to bring biosimilars to as many patients as possible in the United States, as we believe they address an unmet need in the market.”

The Wholesale Acquisition Cost for Herzuma 150 mg is $1,402.50 and Herzuma 420 mg is $3,927.

Actual costs to individual patients and providers for Herzuma are anticipated to be lower than WAC due to not accounting for additional rebates and discounts that may apply.

In addition, savings on out-of-pocket costs may vary depending on the patient’s insurance payer and eligibility for participation in the assistance program, the companies said.