Accord and Sandoz were the big winners at the Global Generics & Biosimilars Awards 2022 in Frankfurt, with other firms recognized including Beximco, Centrient, Dr Reddy’s, Eurofarma, Samsung Bioepis, Shanghai Henlius Biotech and Stada, as well as the US Biosimilars Forum.

Four latecomers including Akeso and Henlius managed to record a combined $101m in immuno-oncology drug sales in China in the first half, while market leaders such as BeiGene and Innovent saw mixed results as competition between domestically-developed rivals continues to heat up.

The latest step by the Chinese drug maker to support its international ambitions is a bridging study in the US, which will evaluate its PD-1 contender serplulimab against Roche’s PD-L1-targeted Tecentriq.

Shanghai Henlius Biotech has celebrated an Australian approval for its Hanquyou trastuzumab biosimilar rival to Herceptin, which has been approved by the country’s TGA under the names Tuzucip and Trastucip via local partner Cipla.