Executive Interview – xBrane

Xbrane is a Swedish company focused on complex generics and biosimilars. Its leading products are Spherotide, a controlled release generic version of oncology drug Decapeptyl (sales of $0.5bn in 2015); and Xlucane, a biosimilar of Lucentis, which generated sales of $3.6bn in 2015. Xbrane has a specialised manufacturing facility for the production of Spherotide that involve a proprietary microsphere formulation. To manufacture Xlucane, the company utilises a proprietary strain of E. coli that yields 8 times more product and reduces costs by 85%. With low competition, Xbrane has a defined path to market through distribution agreements and partnering deals. The company has signed an agreement in Iran to start marketing its lead products in 2017. In China the company has recently signed an agreement for SEK87m (c $10m) to launch Spherotide in 2021. In the US and EU, Spherotide launch is expected in 2019. For Xlucane, Xbrane will conduct clinical development and registration activities during 2017-2019 with planned launch upon Lucentis patent expiration in 2020 in the US and 2022 in the EU.