On 20 October 2025, Santen Pharmaceutical announced that Santen Korea has entered into a promotion and distribution agreement in South Korea with Novartis Korea. The agreement covers Novartis’ Beovu® (brolucizumab) and Lucentis® (ranibizumab), which will be exclusively distributed and promoted by Santen in South Korea. The deal marks Santen’s first entry into the retinal disease market in South Korea.
Santen Korea’s promotion and distribution agreement precedes Novartis’ distribution agreement with Chinese Medical Systems Holdings regarding commercialisation of the two products in China, which was announced on 27 October 2025.
There are a number of ranibizumab biosimilars approved around the world. Formycon/Teva’s FYB201/Ranivisio® was first approved in Europe in August 2022, was developed by Bioeq (a joint venture between Formycon and Polpharma Biologics), and has been commercialised in the region in vial and PFS form by Teva since 2022 and 2025, respectively. It was approved in the UK (in May 2022, marketed as Ongavia® by Teva), the US (in August 2022, marketed as Cimerli®, to which Sandoz acquired the marketing rights from Coherus in March 2024), Canada (in December 2023, marketed as Ranopto™ by Teva) and MENA (in March 2024, marketed as Ravegza® by MS Pharma).
Other approved ranibizumab biosimilars include Samsung Bioepis’ Byooviz® (EU-approved in September 2021, FDA-approved in September 2021), Lupin’s biosimilar (being marketed in the EU by Sandoz), and STADA/Xbrane’s Ximluci® (EU-approved in November 2022).