Bangalore: CANMAb has been jointly developed by Biocon in partnership with Mylan and it is said to be the world's first biosimilar version of Herceptin.

At the launch this morning, Dr Kiran said, "We are announcing the launch of a very important product that we have developed over the years. We have branded this product as CANMAb, which is all about Convenience, Affordability and something New from India."

After 7 years of painstaking research and development, CANMAb is exclusively manufactured at Biocon's biologics facility in Bangalore and will be available for patients during the first week of February 2014.

CANMAb will be available in 150mg and 450mg quantities, priced at $325 (Rs 19,500) and Rs 57,500 per vial respectively, compared to Herceptin, which costs $1,250 (Rs 75,000) for 440mg.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women across India and the world. The incidence of breast cancer in the world is roughly about 1.6 million cases reported each year.