Cipla Ltd. and Roche Products (India) Private Limited have signed a distribution agreement for the promotion and sale of tocilizumab and the 2nd brand of bevacizumab.

Through this partnership, the companies will leverage their expertise to increase access to these innovative medicines for patients in India.

Cipla Ltd. and Roche Pharma India announced today that the two companies have entered into an agreement under which Cipla will promote and distribute tocilizumab (Actemra) and Syndyma, the 2nd brand of Roche’s cancer therapy, bevacizumab (Avastin) in India. This partnership is in line with Cipla and Roche’s efforts to improve healthcare and increase access to innovative, life-changing medicines in India, particularly to patients who currently do not have access to them.

Umang Vohra, MD & Global CEO Cipla said: “The prevalence of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis is widely spread across India, and Cipla can contribute to provide broader access to innovative medicines like tocilizumab and bevacizumab. We look forward to promote and distribute the drugs in India in furtherance to our philosophy of Caring for Life.”

Lara Bezerra, Managing Director – Roche Pharma India said: “At Roche, improving access to the critical medicines that patients need is an integral part of what we do. We believe that everyone who needs our medicines should be able to access and benefit from them. This partnership will significantly advance our efforts to expand the reach of, and improve access to, our innovative medicines. This will also enable us at Roche to focus on bringing new, transformative medicines to patients in India. As Roche, we will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders to help transform healthcare in India.”

About bevacizumab: (bevacizumab Injection) is a recombinant humanised monoclonal antibody that selectively binds to and neutralises the biologic activity of human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Bevacizumab contains human framework regions with antigen-binding regions of a humanised murine antibody that binds to VEGF. Various Clinical trials have proven its efficacy and safety in different solid tumours and is approved by regulators worldwide for certain type of brain tumour, cancers of the kidney, lung, colon and rectum and certain types of gynecological cancers viz. ovarian cancer and cervical cancers. It is usually given as part of a combination of cancer medicines.

About Actemra: Actemra® (tocilizumab Injection) is a recombinant humanized anti interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor monoclonal antibody. This IL-6 protein is believed to play an important role in RA. It binds to both soluble and membrane-bound IL 6 receptors and has shown to inhibit receptor-mediated signaling. It has been studied in various clinical trials & has been approved for its use in various indications like Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Polyarticular-course juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA), Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA).