19 January 2012 - Sandoz, a company of Swiss Novartis (NYSE:NVS), announced on Thursday the launch of two Phase III clinical trials - one for biosimilar filgrastim (Amgen's Neupogen) in the US market, and the other for its pegfilgrastim development programme (Amgen's Neulasta).

The filgrastim study is designed to assess the efficacy and safety of Sandoz's biosimilar filgrastim versus Neupogen in breast cancer patients eligible for myelosuppressive chemotherapy treatment. The company hopes that the study would support extension of commercialisation to the US after the product is already marketed under the brand name Zarzio in more than 30 other countries.

The pegfilgrastim study, which involves breast cancer patients undergoing myelosuppressive chemotherapy treatment, is seen as another key step in Sandoz's global biosimilar development program.