Pharmaceutical companies Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN) on Thursday jointly reported the launch of the therapeutic biosimilars MVASI and KANJINTITM in the US oncology market.

MVASI (bevacizumab-awwb) is a biosimilar to Avastin (bevacizumab) and KANJINTITM (trastuzumab-anns) is a biosimilar to Herceptin (trastuzumab). They are the first biosimilar Avastin and Herceptin products to be introduced in the US.

MVASI is a recombinant humanized monoclonal IgG1 antibody that binds VEGF and prevents the interaction of VEGF to its receptors (Flt-1 and KDR) on the surface of endothelial cells. KANJINTI is a recombinant DNA-derived humanized monoclonal immunoglobulin G1 kappa antibody.

According to the companies, MVASI is approved by the US FDA for the treatment of five types of cancer: in combination with chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC); in combination with chemotherapy for non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); recurrent glioblastoma; in combination with interferon-alfa for metastatic renal cell carcinoma; and in combination with chemotherapy for persistent, recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer.

KANJINTI is approved by the US FDA for the treatment of all indications of Herceptin: HER2-overexpressing adjuvant and metastatic breast cancer and HER2-overexpressing metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

MVASI and KANJINTI were proven to be highly similar to, and to have no clinically meaningful differences in terms of safety and effectiveness from Avastin and Herceptin, respectively, based on a totality of evidence, which included comparative analytical, clinical safety and efficacy data, the companies concluded.