Ontruzant biosimilar to reference product Herceptin, is launched in the US- Merck Inc.

Merck INc., announced the U.S. launch of Ontruzant (trastuzumab-dttb), as a biosimilar of the reference biologic medicine Herceptin. Ontruzant is available in both 150 mg single-dose vials and 420 mg multiple-dose vials. Ontruzant will be introduced in the U.S. at a list price (wholesaler acquisition cost) of approximately $1,325 for the 150 mg single-dose vial and $3,709 for the 420 mg multiple-dose vial (prices are rounded), representing a 15% discount to the current list price of Herceptin. Wholesaler acquisition costs do not include discounts to payers, providers, distributors and other purchasing organizations.

Ontruzant is indicated for adjuvant treatment of HER2 overexpressing node positive or node negative (ER/PR negative or with one high risk feature) breast cancer as part of a treatment regimen consisting of doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and either paclitaxel or docetaxel; as part of a treatment regimen with docetaxel and carboplatin; as a single agent following multi-modality anthracycline based therapy.

On 5 February. 2020, Merck announced that it intends to spin-off products from its Women’s Health, trusted Legacy Brands and Biosimilars businesses, including Ontruzant, into a new, independent, publicly-traded company. Merck will continue to fully support the commercialization of Ontruzant until the spinoff, which is intended to take place in the first half of 2021, at which time ONTRUZANT will become a product of the new company.