Coherus BioSciences, Daiichi Sankyo deal

Coherus BioSciences debuted last week and announced a deal with Daiichi to exclusively develop and commercialize biosimilars of etanercept and rituximab in Asia. The partners will develop and manufacture the biosimilars, while Daiichi will commercialize the products in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Coherus retains rights to develop and commercialize the biosimilars outside of these territories. Sagent Advisors advised Coherus. Details were not disclosed.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN, Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE, New York, N.Y.) co-market Enbrel etanercept in the U.S. and Canada, while Pfizer has rights elsewhere. Enbrel, a recombinant p75 TNF receptor linked to the Fc portion of human IgG1 (TNFr:Fc), is approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis. Amgen reported 2011 sales of Enbrel of $3.7 billion. ...