Amgen, Watson deal

Amgen and Watson partnered to co-develop and commercialize several biosimilars of undisclosed cancer antibodies worldwide. Amgen will be responsible for developing, manufacturing and initially commercializing the biosimilars. Watson will provide up to $400 million in co-development costs comprising money or in-kind services. Watson will initially receive royalties and sales milestones from product revenues. Watson said the partners expect to launch biosimilars in the EU before the U.S., where a launch is expected in 2017-19.

Watson said on a conference call that Amgen will likely be more involved in the commercialization of biosimilars in the U.S., where Watson expects the biosimilars market to at "first look more like a branded market than it will a traditional generic market." It added that as biosimilars become more "generic-like, then it would make sense for us to be more involved." ...