Teva Pharmaceutical Industries of Jerusalem and Lonza Group, based in Switzerland, have decided to discontinue their joint venture for the development, manufacturing and marketing of biosimilars. The companies said ending the collaboration, which began in 2009, will enable both to better advance their own strategies and efforts.

Both companies will continue to explore opportunities to maximize the value of the investments and progress the joint venture has made to this point, and remain in agreement that affordable, efficacious and safe biosimilar treatments will bring benefits to patients.

Dr. Michael Hayden, president, global R&D and CSO of Teva, said, "Teva has a track record of success in the biologics arena and we plan to continue and build on that success. This decision supports our ability to maintain a highly selective approach in our efforts to create a balanced portfolio of biosimilars, biobetters and innovative biologics that align with our overall portfolio and areas of disease focus and, by doing so, better support our patients in these areas."

Dr. Stephan Kutzer, COO of Lonza Pharma & Biotech Market Segment, said, "With the discontinuation of the joint venture we will cease investing in areas that are not strategic to Lonza, such as clinical developments and end-product commercialization. In our assessment, those investments in biosimilar will require more capital than initially planned and will also take more time until they reach the market. We intend in the future to limit our role by focusing on our core expertise in the areas of contract manufacturing and cell line development."

Lonza will concentrate and consolidate its future Microbial Biologics assets and activities in our Visp site. As a result, the Microbial Biologics plant in Hopkinton, Mass. will be phased down, and the company will cease activities at its St. Beauzire site. These moves will result in a reduction of approximately 250 positions by yearend.