On January 22, 2024, Sandoz announced its plans to acquire the U.S. biosimilar ranibizumab CIMERLI (ranibizumab-eqrn) from Coherus BioSciences, Inc. (“Coherus”) for an upfront cash purchase payment of USD 170 million. The acquisition includes a biologics license application, product inventory, ophthalmology sales and field reimbursement talent, as well as access to proprietary commercial software.
CIMERLI solution for injection 0.3 mg (6 mg/mL) and 0.5 mg (10 mg/mL) is an FDA-approved biosimilar to LUCENTIS (ranibizumab) that is indicated for the treatment of multiple retinal diseases including wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), macular edema following retinal vein occlusion (RVO), myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). CIMERLI was approved by the FDA on August 2, 2022, and Coherus launched the product in the United States in October 2022.
According to Sandoz, “closing is anticipated in 1H 2024, subject to standard conditions and approval.”