60 billion won worth of neutropenia market fluctuates

Boryung-Kirin's Neulasta vs. Jeil-GC Pharma's Neulapeg

The market for neutropenia treatments worth 60 billion won a year is expected to fluctuate significantly.

 

The copyright of the No.

 

1 and No.

 

2 items in the second-generation neutropenia treatment market has shifted in succession, and new drugs have joined the competition in six years, signaling a upheaval.

 

◆Boryung and Jeil will change the top 2 items in the market and announce competition According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 20th, Boryung Pharmaceutical recently signed a co-promotion contract for Neulasta (Pegfilgrastim) with Kyowa Kirin Korea.

 

Boryung Pharmaceutical will start selling Neurastar in earnest starting this year.

 

GC Pharma's Neulapeg (Pegteograstim)' contract, which had been jointly sold until last year, ended.

 

With the end of the business with Boryung, Jeil will jointly sell it with GC Pharma from this year.

 

Neutrophilia refers to an abnormally low neutrophil level in the blood.

 

If neutrophils decrease, they become vulnerable to bacterial and viral infections.

 

Cancer patients' neutrophil levels decrease during chemotherapy, and neutrophil reduction drugs prevent this.

 

The first-generation treatment was administered four to six times per cycle of chemotherapy.

 

The second-generation treatment can be effective only with one administration per cycle.

 

Neulasta and Neulapeg are the No.

 

1 & No.

 

2 items in the second-generation neutropenia treatment market.

 

According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market research firm, Neulasta posted sales of 18.9 billion won and Neulapeg posted sales of 16.5 billion won until the third quarter of last year.

 

Sales in 2020 are 25.1 billion won for Neulasta and 15 billion won for Neulapeg.

 

Interestingly, Boryung and Jeil's reversed position.

 

Jeil, Neulapeg's new partner, has co-sold Neulasta from 2014 to 2017.

 

Boryung Pharmaceutical co-sold Neulapeg from October 2018 to last year.

 

In other words, Jeil Pharmaceutical, which used to sell Neulapeg in the past, and Boryung, which sold Neulapeg, took charge of Neulasta.

 

◆ Neulasta with new engine vs Neulapeg with replaced power The key is whether Neulapeg's growth will continue.

 

Neulapeg was somewhat sluggish until Boryung joined.

 

In 2018, the fourth year of its launch, sales were only 4 billion won.

 

It more than doubled to 8.9 billion won in 2019 when Boryung joined in earnest.

 

In 2020, it rose 69 percent again to 15 billion won.Last year, Neulapeg almost caught up with Neulasta.

 

Quarterly sales of Neulasta and Neulapeg differed by about five times from 6.2 billion won to 1.3 billion won in the first quarter of 2019, but narrowed the gap to 6.5 billion won to 6.3 billion won in the third quarter of 2021.

 

In this situation, Boryㅕng Pharmaceutical's contract, which was evaluated as the biggest driving force behind Neulapeg's rise, was terminated.

 

Jeil, which took over Neulapeg from Boryung, was burdened with maintaining the existing upward trend.

 

Boryung, which has market-leading products, is also inevitable to establish a new strategy.

 

If a sales and marketing strategy has been established from the perspective of a chaser until last year, a new strategy should be established to shake off such pursuit from this year.

 

◆ Rolontis, the first new drug in 6 years Another variable is Hanmi Pharmaceutical's Rolontis(Eflapegrastim).

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical received domestic approval for its own new drug Rolontis in March last year.

 

It is the first new drug in six years as a treatment for neutropenia.

 

Rolontis is a long-term persistent drug that is applied with Hanmi Pharmaceutical's own platform technology "Labscovery (once a month)." It is administered once per anticancer cycle.

 

It was on the health insurance benefit list in November last year.

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical plans to start selling Rolontis in earnest starting this year.

 

Although it is a newly released drug, the patient's economic burden is the lowest.

 

The insurance price of Rolontis is 489,796 won.

 

It is the lowest price among the second-generation neutropenia treatments.

 

Neulasta's price is 785,525 won, Neulapeg 576,230 won, Dulastin 586,643 won, and Lonquex 594,429 won.

 

It remains to be seen whether Dulastin and Lonquex, which were pushed back by Neulasta and Neulapeg, will rebound.

 

Dong-AST's Dulastin, licensed in 2014, generated 2.7 billion won in sales in 2020.

 

Teva-Handok's Lonquex, licensed in 2015, recorded 3.3 billion won in sales in the same year.

 

Accumulated sales in the third quarter of last year were 2.4 billion won in Dulastin and 2.3 billion won in Lonquex.