Remy
Administrator
Another fantastic post by @Hip!
(If you'd rather post this yourself or wish for it not to be posted here, please let me know and I can delete this post...)
(If you'd rather post this yourself or wish for it not to be posted here, please let me know and I can delete this post...)
The original version of rituximab made by Roche (a Swiss pharmaceutical company) is sold under the brand names of Rituxan and MabThera. These are identical products made by Roche, but with different brand names. The cost of MabThera is around $1,300 (pharmplexdirect.com price) to $3,000 for 500 mg (goldpharma.com price). In the US, rituximab prices can be higher than this.
However, for the Indian market, Roche sell their rituximab under brand names Ristova and Ikgdar, and although these are identical to Rituxan/MabThera, the prices of Ristova and Ikgdar are much lower, around $600 for 500 mg.
In addition, India and several other countries produce cheaper biosimilar copies of rituximab (or non-originator biologic copies), such as the Mabtas rituximab, which costs around $380 for 500 mg. Biosimilars are the biopharmaceuticalequivalent of generic drugs.
Here is a list of various rituximab types that are available (prices given are for 500 mg of rituximab):
Original Rituximab Made By Roche:Is it feasible to buy these cheaper rituximab products from India? I am not sure. I contacted www.1mg.com, an Indian online pharmacy that stocks several of these rituximab products, asking them whether they could dispatch them to the US or UK. They told me that at present, they do not sell pharmaceuticals to the international market (but may do in future). I could not find any other online Indian pharmacies selling rituximab.
Rituxan (Roche)
MabThera (Roche) $1,300 to $3,000
Rituxan and MabThera are different brand names for the same Roche product
Ristova (Roche) $600
Ikgdar (Roche) $570
Ristova and Ikgdar are cut price versions of Roche's Rituxan for sale in India. Ristova and Ikgdar are made by Roche and are identical to Rituxan, but packaged locally by Emcure Pharmaceuticals in India.
Biosimilar Rituximab:
Truxima (Celltrion, Korea) — Not yet available, expected to receive marketing authorization in 2017
Biosimilars are copies of the original product (Roche's Rituxan in this case) whose efficacy and safety have been demonstrated in studies to be the same as the original product, and have received regulatory approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Non-Originator Biologics Rituximab:
Mabtas (Intas Pharmaceuticals, India) $380
Maball (Hetero Group, India) $400
Cytomab (Alkem Laboratories, India) $470
Reditux (Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, India) $600
RituxiRel (Torrent Pharmaceuticals, India) $630
Toritz (Torrent Pharmaceuticals, India) — RituxiRel and Toritz are different brand names for the same product
Novex (Laboratorio Elea, Argentina)
Kikuzubam (Probiomed, Mexico)
AcellBia (Biocad, Russia)
Non-originator biologics are copies of the original product that have been approved for use, but whose efficacy and safety have not yet been validated against the original product.
The next cheapest alternative I am aware of is the MabThera rituximab for sale at around $1,300 at pharmplexdirect.com, which is a UK-based online pharmacy that ships internationally (requires a UK/EU prescription). Thanks to @eljefe19 for finding this source.
Note that I understand rituximab must be stored at temperatures between 2ºC and 8ºC, so any pharmacy suppling rituximab would I think need to ship it in a cold pack. A cold pack (basically a gel ice pack, placed inside a box with a good 2 inches of expanded polystyrene thermal insulation) can maintain these sort of temperature for 24 to 48 hours during shipping.
More Info:
List of rituximab brands and rituximab biosimilars brands, with dollar prices:
Rituximab generic. Price of rituximab
List of rituximab biosimilars and non-originator biologicals:
Generics and Biosimilars Initiative
Latest info on rituximab biosimilars:
Rituximab Biosimilar News