Switzerland's Sandoz pivots to biosimilars, expects rapid mid-term growth

LONDON, Sept 8 — Swiss drug maker Sandoz is doubling down on its biosimilars ​segment as it pivots away from generics and aims to more than double net sales from 2025 to ‌2035, the company said at its capital markets day on Tuesday.

"Our Bio100 ambitions are ⁠set to position biosimilars to ​become the majority of our ⁠sales," Sandoz's Chief Executive Richard Saynor said on the company's ‌new strategy.

Sandoz said ‌it is also targeting annual net sales growth at ⁠a mid-to-high single-digit rate at constant ⁠currencies from 2025 to 2030, banking on its biosimilars portfolio, which it wants to increase to 100 drugs by 2040, from 13 today.

Although most of Sandoz's sales are currently still made up by generics, the firm has been touting ‌what it calls its "golden decade" for biosimilars, ​as innovator drug makers struggle against patent cliffs.

Biosimilars are biological drugs based on reference medicines for which patents have expired and market exclusivity lost. Like generics, they are usually sold at much cheaper prices as they do not factor in significant research and development costs.

CEO Saynor said earlier this year ​that in the next 10 years, $650 billion worth of branded products ‌are due to ‌lose ⁠patent exclusivity.

At its previous capital markets day in 2023, ahead of its spin-off from former parent Novartis, Sandoz had aimed for mid-single digit sales growth by 2028, a goal it says remains ‌unchanged.

The company separately announced ​a $300 million investment in a new ‌drug substance facility ⁠in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

(Reporting ​by Marleen Kaesebier in Zurich and Bhanvi Satija in LondonEditing by ​Dave Graham)

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