On 22 September 2025, Celltrion announced that Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has approved Avtozma®/CT-P47, biosimilar to Roche’s Actemra® (tocilizumab), for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), Castleman disease (CD), and cytokine release syndrome (CRS).
This marks the first tocilizumab biosimilar approved in Japan, with Celltrion planning to launch “quickly” to secure “first mover advantage”.
In May 2025, Avtozma® became the first approved tocilizumab biosimilar in Australia. In February 2025, Avtozma® became the third tocilizumab biosimilar approved in the EU, following Fresenius Kabi’s Tyenne®, in both IV and SC forms, in November 2023, and Biogen’s IV Tofidence™, in June 2024.
Avtozma® was also the third tocilizumab biosimilar approved in the US in January 2025, trailing Fresenius Kabi’s Tyenne® (tocilizumab-aazg) (SC formulation, March 2024) and Biogen/Bio-Thera’s Tofidence®/BAT1806 (tocilizumab-bavi) (IV formulation, September 2023).