- LOGIN
- MemberShip
- 2026-03-19 12:07:18
- Company
- Oral GLP-1 competitiveness depends on price and convenience
- by Nho, Byung Chul Nov 20, 2019 11:50pm
- Although an oral GLP-1 drug, Rybelsus has attracted heightened attention from its market since its recent approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it faces some barriers to overcome like inconvenient high-dose regimen and expensive price. Reportedly, once-daily Rybelsus’ effect of glucose control and weight loss is not as effective as once-weekly injection, despite the oral drug’s dosage is hundred times higher than the injection. And also the drug’s price is expected to be higher than other existing oral drugs. Well aware of the concerns, Novo Nordisk (“Novo”) official spoke at a recently held third quarter 2019 earnings presentation and explained that competitors of Rybelsus would not be an once-weekly injection, but other existing oral antidiabetic treatments and Novo’s own once-daily injection, Victoza. Rybelsus is an oral version of Novo’s once-weekly GLP-1 injection, Ozempic, and 7mg and 14mg doses of Rybelsus were approved by FDA in last September for type 2 diabetic patients, who needs to control glucose level with drug as they cannot self-control it by diet or exercise. The biggest risk factor of Rybelsus is in effectiveness. Rybelsus’ glycated hemoglobin reduction rate, which measures treatment effect on diabetic patients, demonstrated similar level of effectiveness as Novo’s own once-daily injection, Victoza. However, the rate was less promising than Novo’s other once-weekly antidiabetic injection Ozempic. According to Novo’s clinical data, taking 14mg of Rybelsus daily for 52 weeks would reduce 1.3 percent of hemoglobin level, whereas 26 weeks of taking 1.8mg of Victoza daily reduces 1.3 percent, and 40 weeks of 1mg of Ozempic weekly reduces 1.8 percent. Treatments in GLP-1 class take a certain period of time to find patient’s adequate dose to minimize the treatment’s well-known adverse reaction, gastrointestinal side effects. For Rybelsus, it takes about eight weeks. Other injectable Saxenda by Novo, Trulicity by Eli Lilly, and efpeglenatide by Sanofi take about four weeks or less. Unlike the Korean market, market expectation on Rybelsus is also lowered by diabetic patients in the U.S. and other European countries not minding so much of pen-type injection device. Clinical trial on single-dose prefilled pen-type injection conducted by Eli Lilly found 99 percent of subject patients completed administration for the target period of four weeks, and 97 percent of them were positive about continuous use of the treatment type. Moreover, Rybelsus’ 14mg high-dose daily regimen is another issue the treatment faces, because such high dosage could lead patient’s pharmaceutical expense to rise. In fact, Rybelsus’ injectable version, Ozempic’s treatment dosage is 1mg per week, but patients taking Rybelsus has to take 98mg (14mg per day) a week of the exact same substance, which is close to a hundredfold of Ozempic. The industry accordingly expects the extensively higher dosage of the drug would inevitably increase patient’s drug expense. “Rybelsus is ‘just another option of oral antidiabetic treatments’ and it is expected to take its unique place in the market. But it has some problems to overcome, compared to an existing once-weekly injection. Rybelsus’ competitors would likely to be other options of oral antidiabetic treatments or once-daily injection like Victoza. Whichever product demonstrates the most outstanding effect, benefit, convenience and safety among once-weekly injections would lead the market, eventually,” a pharmaceutical industry insider commented.
- Company
- JW Pharmaceutical’s R&D generates fruitful return
- by Chon, Seung-Hyun Nov 20, 2019 06:14pm
- For this year’s third quarter, JW Pharmaceutical recognized total 6.6 billion won made from exporting drug candidate technology. The amount includes upfront fees received from technology transfer deal from last year over atopic dermatitis drug candidate, and from technology export deal on anti-gout drug candidate made last September. The industry evaluates it was fruitful return from R&D investment. JW Pharmaceutical reported on Nov. 19 that the company’s accumulated profit from technology export payment in the third quarter reached 6.6 billion won. The figure reflects upfront payment from two technology transfer deals signed last year and this year. In August last year, JW Pharmaceutical shook hands with Demark-based multinational pharmaceutical company, Leo Pharma agreeing to export atopic dermatitis pipeline, 'JW1601'. Including USD 17 million upfront payment, the deal is worth total 402 million dollars. And in August, the company made a deal with China-based Simcere Pharmaceutical for exporting an anti-gout drug candidate 'URC102'. The deal is worth 70 million dollars, including five-million-dollar upfront payment. But it is quite different as to how these two deals were reflected on the account. The upfront fee on JW1601, 17 million dollars (about 19 billion won), was received September last year. But JW Pharmaceutical decided to recognize 17 billion won at once in August last year, and recognize the rest of 1.3 billion won in 20-month installment from August last year to March next year. So payment of 66.41 million won would be reflected on the account every month until March next year. And up to September this year, payment of about 600 million won (66.41 million won reflected for nine months) was recognized. On the other hand, payment from URC102 deal was recognized all at once. The payment of six billion won was reflected on the third quarter account. However, the actual payment was not transferred in the third quarter. JW Pharmaceutical clarified on the quarterly report that “The payment is to be received in November”. The company, in fact, stated early this month that it has received the payment. A JW Pharmaceutical insider commented, “The payment from the August deal was reflected on the third quarter account as the agreement was finalized then”. Reflecting payments from the two drug candidate technology deals, JW Pharmaceutical has made total of 6.6 billion won profit in the third quarter. The profit from the deals actually helped the company’s overall performance. JW Pharmaceutical generated operating profit of 2.6 billion won in the third quarter, which means it would have made deficit if the technology transfer deal was not reflected. The company may have risked overall earnings with increased R&D expense, but R&D performance is also contributing back to the company’s earnings. JW Pharmaceutical’s earnings were recently worsened due to increased R&D expense. The accumulated R&D expense up to the third quarter was 29.7 billion won, surged by 23.5 percent than the same time year before. The company insider commented, “R&D investment amount was significantly increased recently, as clinical trials for the exported drug candidates have initiated”. The industry sees that the company is well on its way to create a positive cycle of dedicated R&D effort contributing back to the company’s return. Also in last year, JW Pharmaceutical received payment of 4.8 billion won for exporting total parenteral nutrition (TPN) product. JW Holdings signed a licensing-out and export contract with Baxter in July 2013, granting the multinational company rights to supply the TPN product, Winuf to the U.S., Europe and all around the world. The contract is worth total of 35 million dollars, including 25-million-dollar upfront payment and ten-million-dollar milestone payment. With European health regulator giving a green light on Finomel (Winuf’s brand name in Europe), JW Holdings received promised milestone payment of four million dollars last year. The rest of milestone payment, six million dollars is expected to be paid out when the product gets approved in other regions.
- Company
- Boycott against Japan makes no impact on drug sector
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Nov 20, 2019 06:33am
- Although this year’s deficit generated from trade with Japan is expected to hit the lowest point, the pharmaceutical sector has not been affected on a notable level. For last six years, Japanese drug import volume skyrocketed by around 57 percent. The import volume easily overwhelmed the Korean export volume, resulting in inevitable heavy deficit. In general, Korean boycott movement against Japanese goods, started spreading since June, seems not to have affected Japanese drug as much. According to Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Korea Customs Service (KCS) on Nov. 18, South Korea’s total trade deficit with Japan from January to October this year was USD 16.37 billion, which has gone down by 20.6 percent than same time last year at 20.61 billion dollars. As far as total deficit made from January to October goes, this year’s deficit has been the least ever since 2003 with 15.57 billion dollars. If the trend continues until the end of the year, Korea’s total deficit with Japan would be under 20 billion dollars for the first time in 16 years. It would be about the half of highest volume marked in 2010 at 36.12 billion dollars. However, the pharmaceutical sector seems to be an exception to the trend. Until last October, Korea marked trade deficit with Japanese pharmaceutical products of 132.3 million dollars. Deficit from January to October has hit the lowest figure since three years ago in 2016 (deficit of 120.63 million dollars). But considering average deficit in five years from 2014 to 2018 (accumulated from January to October) was around 95.71 million dollars, this year’s improvement on deficit is hardly remarkable. In the same time, Korea’s export volume to Japan has surged by 51.6 percent from 127.69 million dollars to 197.83 million dollars, but the import volume also surged by 56.6 percent from 185 million dollars to 330.13 million dollars. The increase in import rose over the increase in export, generating the total net deficit as a result. Jan. to Oct. drug trade trend by year (unit: USD 1,000). Red shows this year’s trade volume. Figure improved the most since last 3 years (2017-2019) but still deficit reached higher than before. Even when the boycott movement took off July, the changes of pharmaceutical import and export volume by month did not leave a notable change in trend. As for July, Korea made a deficit of 22.19 million dollars. The country exported 23.97 million dollars of pharmaceutical products and imported 46.16 million dollar-worth of goods. July had the heaviest deficit of the year. The deficit was lowered to 5.56 million dollars in August, but it is getting larger again after generating 10.11 million dollars and 14.57 million dollars of deficit in September and October, respectively. Analyzing last three years of monthly trade deficit, the boycott movement did not make a clear mark on the graph. The result is quite contrasting from major consumer goods, such as automobile, apparel, alcohol beverages and electronics that got struck by the boycott against Japanese goods. Drug trade volume trend by month in last 3 years (unit: USD 1,000) Red shows trade volume in July-Oct. after boycott, but no special tendency found
- Company
- Ferinject for bloodless surgery, reimbursement started up
- by Nho, Byung Chul Nov 20, 2019 06:19am
- It is noted whether high dose iron injection, Ferinject may be included as insurance reimbursement for bloodless surgery (Minimal Transfusion). According to the industry, JW Pharmaceutical applied for a non-reimbursement item, Ferinject, to HIRA on the 18th. High-dose iron is effective as a transfusion replacement therapy for surgical patients who need to increase hemoglobin levels in a short time, and for mothers who have bleeding from childbirth. Introduced by Swiss company, Vifor in 2011, JW Pharmaceutical is currently generating sales of about ₩10 billion. This product is a 500mg high iron injection that can be replenished quickly by administering up to 1000mg of iron per day for 15 minutes. Conventional intravenous iron injections are difficult to administer high doses, so many visits are needed to the hospital. It took more than 40 minutes in a single dose, but Ferinject can be administered up to 5 times faster (in 3 to 5 minutes). Clinical data shows that Ferinject 500mg high-injection iron injection has the same effect as 2 packs of blood 420ml. In addition, it has been evaluated as a safe iron with reduced side effects and vascular pain compared to conventional intravenous iron injection. Ferinject is an effective iron deficiency treatment that can improve the side effects of oral iron containing products with high absorption rate and stability of 99%, and can be administered faster than the existing intravenous iron products. It elevates patient compliance and reduces overload of nurse and hospital work. It is also a safe, high-dose iron infusion that can be used for patients 14 years of age and older, demonstrating safety in pregnant women. Therefore, iron, which is lacking in blood with minimal blood transfusion to surgery patients or anemia patients, has recently emerged as a minimal transfusion treatment supplemented with iron injections, which will greatly contribute to improving the quality of life of patients. High-capacity iron injections are priced at ₩150,000 ~ 200,000 per 500mg of 1 ampule. The reimbursement price is expected to be around ₩70,000 ~ 90,000. The single daily dose is 1000 mg and the maximum maximum dose is 1000 mg or 20 mg / kg. It is contraindicated as follows. Patients with hypersensitivity to Ferinject or its components, patients with known significant hypersensitivity to other parenteral iron preparations, patients with anemia other than iron deficiency (microcytic anaemia), iron overdose or iron impairment. or patients with bacteraemia should be avoided. Adverse events (1% to 10%) are usually headache, dizziness, high blood pressure, nausea, injection site reactions, increased ALT, and hypophosphatemia.
- Company
- Power of Innovative Drugs, Keytruda & Spinraza Shake Market
- by Chon, Seung-Hyun Nov 19, 2019 06:34am
- New products, which are regarded as innovative new drugs in the domestic pharmaceutical market, are shaking the upper hand. Keytruda, an immunocancer drug, spearheaded Lipitor to the chin with a steep rise. Rare disorder treatment “Spinraza” presented a remarkable quarterly sales of ₩20 billion immediately after applying for health insurance reimbursement. According to IQVIA,the health information technology and clinical research on the 18th, Pfizer's Lipitor, medicine that lowers cholesterol in the blood, posted the highest sales of ₩36.3 billion in the third quarter. It rose 5.5% over the same period in the previous year. Lipitor, which was released in Korea in 1999, is still well despite the entry of more than 100 generic products after the patent expiration in 2009. Top 10 sales medications in third quaeters 2019 (Unit: KRW million, %, Source: IQVIA) Keytruda's propaganda was noticeable. Keytruda's the third-quarter sales grew 78.9% over the same period in the previous year to ₩33 billion ranking second after Lipitor. The company's quarterly sales gap with Lipitor is narrowed to ₩3.3 billion threatening its lead. Keytruda binds to the PD-1 receptor, blocking both immune-suppressing ligands, PD‑L1 and PD‑L2, from interacting with PD-1 to help restore T-cell response and immune response. When functioning properly, T cells are activated and can attack tumor cells. Since August 2017, insurance reimbursement has been applied as a secondary treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. Quarterly sales of Keytruda jumped from ₩4.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 to ₩13.6 billion in the first quarter of 2018. Keytruda exceeded sales of ₩ 20billion in the fourth quarter of last year and has recorded sales of ₩30 billion since the second quarter of this year. Keytruda has booked a record-breaking ₩100 billion in sales in the third quarter of this year. It also attempt to get top position of Lipitor. The sales gap between Lipitor and Kitruda is ₩19 billion based on cumulative sales in third quarter Quarterly Sales Revenue by Quarter (Unit: KRW million, Source: IQVIA) Biogen's Spinraza made a surprise blast with sales of ₩20.4 billion in the third quarter. The company did not generate sales until the second quarter, but sold more than ₩20 billion at a stretch. Spinraza is a rare disease treatment that treats hereditary diseases of the neuromuscular system, in which the muscles are contracted by damage to the spinal cord and brain stem motor neurons, called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Cognitive function is normal, but muscle tension is poor, tongue muscle contractions, such as normal life is difficult. Spinraza, which was approved in Korea in December 2017, was listed on the health insurance list at the maximum price of ₩92.3 million in one bottle (5ml) in April after drug pricing negotiating with National Health Insurance Service. Spinraza does not have a large number of patients and must undergo a rigorous procedure that requires prior review before administration. However, due to the high price, it made ₩20 billion in sales. Roche's anti-cancer drug 'Avastin' was ranked 3rd overall with sales of ₩30.7 billion, up 18.1% from the previous year. Avastin, which is used for metastatic colorectal cancer, metastatic breast cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer, surpassed the annual sales of ₩100 billion for the first time since its domestic approval last year. Cumulative sales for the third quarter of this year stood at ₩89.2 billion, which is likely to exceed ₩100 billion for two consecutive years. Abbvie's autoimmune disease treatment product, Humira, recorded ₩24.4 billion in sales in the third quarter up 12.4% from the previous year. Humira is a TNF-alpha inhibitor that inhibits the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α). and continues to rise due to the merits which has the most indications among the TNF-alpha inhibitors. Humira's 3rd quarter cumulative sales increased 15.1% year-on-year to ₩71.3billion. AstraZeneca's anti-cancer drug Tagrisso jumped to fifth place in the third quarter with sales of ₩21.1 billion. The growth rate was 42.0% year-on-year. Tagrisso is a second-line treatment prescribed for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who developed resistance after conventional EGFR tyrosine kinase (TKI), such as Iressa, Tarceva, and Gilotrif. It is called a third generation drug because it overcomes the resistance of the existing EGFR-TKI. Tagrisso, which was launched in December 2017, received nearly ₩60 billion in sales last year, making it the leading EGFR anticancer drug. Revenue continued to rise after exceeding ₩20 billion in the previous second quarter. Gilead's hepatitis B treatment, Viread, which was once the leader in overall sales, recorded only ₩20.7 billion in the third quarters sales, down 29.3% from the previous year. After patent expiration, market share dropped sharply due to drug price cuts and generic emergence.
- Company
- Kolon Life Science faces 88.5-billion-won damage lawsuits
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Nov 18, 2019 10:21pm
- Kolon Life Science is facing a series of damage lawsuits asking for 88.5 billion won as compensation for the Invossa incident. Kolon Life Science stated in the third quarter report that the company’s properties have been seized by Mitsubishi Tanabe and outstanding contract payment from Mundipharma has been suspended. It is facing number of damage lawsuits filed by individuals and insurance companies since last May. 1,572 individuals and companies from home and abroad demanding 88.5 billion won As of last Oct. 31, 1,572 individuals have filed litigation cases against Kolon Life Science. Most of them are shareholders of Kolon Life Science and Kolon TissueGene. Some of patients who had been taking Invossa are claiming the damage as well. Other 19 corporations, including Kyobo Life Insurance Company, KB Insurance, and Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, have also decided to sue Kolon Life Science. Their total litigation value adds up to 58.4 billion won. Meanwhile, Japan-based Mitsubishi Tanabe has submitted a request for arbitration to International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The Japanese company demands the Korean company to return the upfront payment of JPY 2.5 billion (about 26.9 billion won) and to pay about 300 million yen (3.2 billion won) for damage. Regarding the issue, Kolon Life Science explained “The company received 2.5 billion yen as an upfront payment, without a return condition, when Mitsubishi Tanabe and Kolon Life Science signed the technology transfer deal in 2016. But in December 2017, Mitsubishi Tanabe requested for contract cancellation and return of contract payment, and in last May, the company submitted a request for arbitration to ICC against Kolon Life Science as it added another grounds for the contract revocation”. As a result, Kolon Life Science faces litigation value of about 88.5 billion won from companies in and out of Korea. List of damage lawsuits filed against Kolon Life Science 14.4 billion won-worth property frozen, 15 billion won contract payment suspended The third quarter report also disclosed the fact Kolon Life Science’ property worth 14.4 billion has been put under provisional attachment by Mitsubishi Tanabe. Kolon Life Science headquarter building seized by Mitsubishi Tanabe Mitsubishi Tanabe requested Korean courts to attach three of Kolon Life Science’ real estate properties under provisional attachment, and Daegu, Cheongju, and Seoul Southern District Courts ruled seizure of Kolon Life Science’ assets. Accordingly, land and building of Second Gimcheon Plant (valued at around 3.3 billion won), land and building of Chungju Plant (valued at around 7.8 billion won), and Magok headquarters building (valued at around 3.3 billion won) have been seized. Also the outstanding contract payment from Mundipharma has been put on hold. Kolon Life Science may have to return the already received 15 billion won. Previously, Kolon Life Science and Mundipharma signed a license deal worth of 30 billion won in November, 2018. Mundipharma agreed to pay the Korean company 15 billion won each in the third and fourth quarter of this year. The company has received 15 billion won from the global company in the past third quarter as stated on the agreement. But in last May, Kolon Life Science agreed on signing Mundipharma as pledge of movables for collateral security, which in result suspended the outstanding fourth-quarter payment of 15 billion won. And when the pledgee’s condition is activated, Kolon Life Science may have to return the received 15 billion won.
- Company
- AI-driven Drug Discovery is already signigicantly high level
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Nov 18, 2019 04:47pm
- Global pharmaceutical companies are showing great interest in the development of new drugs using artificial intelligence (AI). It is expected that AI will drastically reduce the time and costs associated with finding a candidate substance through clinical trials and approvals before entering the market. What about the perspective of the computer science industry, not the pharmaceutical industry? Prof. Kang, Jaewoo, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University, explained that AI-driven Drug Discovery is already coming to reality at 'BIOplus 2019' held at COEX in Seoul on Nov 12. Prof. Kang presented as a speaker at a session called ''AI Medicine: Data-driven Drug Discovery. He expects AI to be particularly strong in clinical trials including Drugs Pipeline discovery & verification. In addition, he introduced cases of this and added his experience of winning the global competition continuesly, According to him, the most prominent step in AI development is Drugs Pipeline discovery. At present, the discovery of candidate materials is mainly done by manual method through document retrieval like Pub Med, the world's largest medical thesis site, reads related articles and formulates hypotheses. However, the number of new articles published in Pub Med is 5000 conservatives a day. It is impossible for a person to check one by one. AI can contribute to this, Professor Kang explained. He focused on AI's "human language learning ability." He succeeded in creating a program called 'BioBERT' last January based on Google's 'deep learning' technology. AI will answer it. if you enter the medical question you want in the program. It is an expansion of the pharmaceutical bio sector of 'BERT' which Google disclosed earlier. Google learned Wikipedia's language with deep learning and created a program called BERT. Data was entered as Wikipedia's language. Instead of Wikipedia, BioBERT learned the language of Pub Med and PMC (another medical article search site). 16 billion words were entered as data. BioBERT's capabilities have been recognized globally. He won first place in BioASQ, one of the AI bio competitions in the pharmaceutical bio sector. Google was in second place. It came with Google's model and reborn as a better program than Google. He said,“It was a test to see how accurate the program would answer, and we can significantly reduce time and effort to find candidates (via BioBERT)." Next step is to verify it once you formulate a hypothesis. Prof. Kang also explained that AI contributes a lot. He added real experience. It was a competition called 'IDG-DREEM' this year. When professors at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York presented their hypothesis as a problem, AI experts around the world searched for answers. Professor Kang won the championship for two consecutive years. He became a co-winner this year. It is in the same position as Illinois State University, China National University of China, and North Carolina State University. The problem was that 'find ZINC15 (Pharmaceutical Bio-Sector Compound DB)' to determine what is most effective when combined with certain drugs in thyroid cancer. In the case of drugs with different structures and similar mechanisms, Prof. Kang's group trained machine learning models to recognize as similar drugs. As a result, It was successful to find 10 substances. Seven of these substances were also confirmed to have related papers. AI could also help with clinical trials, Pro. Kang predicted. "We can predict which patients will be particularly effective for which patients or for which biomarkers," he said. In 2016, AstraZeneca held a contest with Sanger. After revealing the patient's genetic information and the effects of the drug, the problem was predicting which cancer would be most effective. Prof. Kang said that more data is required than the previous stage of finding and verifying candidates. Even though it was the latest professional computer at that time, it took over 20 hours to solve a problem on its own. Eventually, 20 more computers were purchased and the processing speed was increased by 20 times and then reduced to 1 hour. Prof. Kang's group, who first entered the competition, placed second . The following year, he was ranked No. 1 in a competition hosted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2017. "In 2016 and 2017, we were able to succeed because we used the good quality of patient information that was organized in advance by the organizer." "It is very important to reine data for AI and Even in the field, quality & quantity of information is very important.“ "AI also learns from data… the more the better" In the subsequent presentation, the importance of the data was emphasized. Ph.D Shin, Hyun-jin, who is in charge of AI drug development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, said, "I feel like I'm floating in the ocean. It's water everywhere but there's no water to drink." There is a lot of data, but no useful data available. "In order for machine learning to evolve, standardized data must be available. However, different data formats are difficult to use these days.“ “Dissemination is the most important to win the war in the long run”he said. "It is same as AI drug development. Both the quantity and quality of the data is important. lower quality may result in lower accuracy, while lower quantities may result in biased results“ He emphasized.
- Company
- Pfizer’s Upjohn changed in business name to Viatris
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Nov 18, 2019 06:23am
- Pfizer's Upjohn is expected to be reborn as a complete independent corporation, or one pharmaceutical company, next year. According to the relevant industry, Pfizer and Mylan decided to change the name of the company to Viatris in 2020 after the merger of the patent expiry division. This means complete company separation. Currently, Pfizer’s Upjohn is still operating under Pfizer's name under Pfizer Pharmaceutical. In fact, Pfizer Korea general manager, Oh Dong-wook is also in charge of the two subsidiaries. As Mylan has not entered the Korean market yet, the Pfizer’s Upjohn’s business division will be operated under Pfizer's control for the time being, but in the end, independence will be achieved if all the matters are prepared with the name’s change in the next year. In particular, due to the nature of the domestic market, the sales volume of expired patented drugs is not small, and Pfizer's Upjone has big items such as Lipitor (Atorvastatin calcium), Norvasc (Amlodipine besylate), and Celebrex (Cerecoxib). So, Pharmaceutical company of a certain scale is expected to be established. Compared to global corporations, the number of employees in Korean subsidiaries is also overwhelming. CEO Dong-wook Oh reorganized the company's internal corporate structure into Pfizer Korea Pharmaceutical which specializes in innovative drugs based on the development of new drugs, and Pfizer Korea Upjohn with concentrating on off-patent brands and generic drugs. He said, "We look forward to growth potential to be better realized in each area“ He said, "We will focus on improving the quality of life by providing timely treatments to more patients based on the various drug pipelines and medicines in each business division. It is the stage to discuss which direction to take, and also, Employees' roles and responsibilities remain unchanged in this process. ”
- Company
- Combination therapy dominates in DPP-4 inhibitor market
- by Chon, Seung-Hyun Nov 17, 2019 05:35pm
- While dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor products are currently leading the Korean oral diabetic treatment market, combination drugs reaffirmed its dominance over the DPP-4 market taking up two-thirds of the pie. Even compared with monotherapy prescription volume, MSD’s combination drug with DDP-4 inhibitor and metformin, Janumet outdid other products. On the other hand, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Trajenta topped the monotherapy market. According to the pharmaceutical research frim, UBIST on Nov. 13, outpatient prescription sales of DPP inhibitor class diabetes treatment grew by 7.2 percent than the same time year before, reaching the total of 398.6 billion won. The figure includes both monotherapy and combination therapy. DPP-4 inhibitor medicine outpatient prescription sales trend (unit: KRW 1 million) Source: UBISTSince the launch of MSD’s Januvia in 2008, total of nine DPP-4 inhibiting products have been released. The products aim to treat diabetes by blocking the action of DPP-4 enzyme breaking down secreted insulin. The type of medicine has the biggest pie in the oral diabetes treatment market in Korea. Apparently, the medicine adequately controls the blood glucose level, while it lowers the risk of adverse events like hypoglycemia and increased body weight than any other medicine. Also, there are other DDP-4 inhibitor-based combination therapies available with metformin and pioglitazone. The Korean market has been heated up as six out of nine DPP-4 inhibitor products launched in the market are co-promoted by two companies. ◆Januvia and Janumet top market share, Tenelia and Suganon leap forward Individual sales-wise, Januvia and Janumet kept their top prescription sales in the third quarter with accumulated sales of 117.4 billion won. The figure was increased by 3.0 percent than the previous year. MSD and Chong Kun Dang are co-promoting Januvia products in the Korean market. Trajenta and Trajenta Duo, co-promoted by Boehringer Ingelheim and Yuhan Corporation, had a 5.1 percent growth than the previous year reaching accumulated prescription sales of 87.4 billion won in the third quarter. The total sales figure may be lower than Januvia, but it had a greater growth. LG Chem’s Zemiglo and Zemimet accumulated prescription sales of 71.3 billion won until the third quarter, soaring 13.0 percent than last year. After launching Zemiglo in 2012, LG Chem partnered with Sanofi to co-promote the product but it resigned the partnership deal with Daewoon Pharmaceutical instead in 2016. Daewoong Pharmaceutical has been cumulating expertise in diabetes treatment sales for eight years since 2008 with the first DPP-4 inhibitor drug, Januvia. Combined sales experience and knowledge, Daewoong Pharmaceutical has been evaluated to have led the prominent sales power of Zemiglo in recent days. Tenelia and Suganon jumped into the game late but their performances so far have been notable. Along with Tenelia M, Handok’s Tenelia generated accumulated outpatient prescription sales of 25.9 billion won by the end of September. The figure has surged by 18.9 percent than the same time last year. Dong-A ST’s Suganon and Sugamet generated 62.0 percent growth from the year before, recording 10.9 billion won this September. However, Galvus and Galvus Met were a few that showed a decrease in prescription than last year among DPP-4 inhibitor medicines. ◆Janumet undoubtedly tops combination therapy market, Trajenta leads monotherapy Comparing DPP-4 inhibitor monotherapy and combination therapy, the combination therapy products had a steeper growth. Accumulated prescription sales of DPP-4 inhibitor monotherapy were 144 billion won in the third quarter, recording 5.1 percent growth from the year before. But, DPP-4 inhibitor in combination with metformin and pioglitazone generated prescription sales of 254.6 billion won, surging about 8.4 percent from last year. Making a steeper growth than monotherapy, combination therapy took over 63.9 percent of the whole market share. Within the DPP-4 inhibitor combination therapy market, Janumet, a combination of sitagliptin (Januvia) and metformin, dominated the market share. Janumet and Janumet XR swallowed up 33.0 percent of the whole combination therapy market with accumulated prescription sales of 84.9 billion won in the third quarter. Another combination therapy, Zemimet followed right behind with 46.4 billion won prescription sales, beating Trajenta Duo. Meanwhile, monotherapy market showed a contrasting trend. Accumulated prescription sales of Trajenta reached 43.9 billion won and topped the market share, when Januvia’s figure only reached 32.6 billion won. Trajenta was ranked on the third place in the combination therapy market, but the medicine still remains strong in the monotherapy market. Galvus was the fourth most selling medicine in the combination therapy market, but its rank in monotherapy market dropped to sixth after Tenelia and Nesina.
- Company
- Prosecution combs vaccine companies for alleged collusion
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Nov 16, 2019 06:29am
- The prosecution set out to investigate on a suspicion of pharmaceutical companies colluding together when supplying vaccine to government. According to pharmaceutical industry on Nov. 14, the prosecution combed ten alleged pharmaceutical companies and distributors on Nov. 13. Companies like GC Pharma, Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, Boryung Pharmaceutical and Korea Vaccine, and distributors like Wooin Meditech, and Pharm World were reportedly on the search and seizure list. Allegedly, the companies have fixed bidding prices of vaccine products submitted to Public Procurement Service when supplying the products to national healthcare institutes. The suspicion not only accuses them for price fixing, but also for supplying products without reporting vaccine’s adverse reaction. In fact, the authority apparently found documents related to vaccine bidding and supply as prosecutors and investigators were searching their offices in the afternoon of Nov. 13. Meanwhile, seven pharmaceutical companies, including Boryung Biopharma, SK Chemical and GC Pharma and CJ have been caught by Fair Trade Commission for colluding vaccine prices in 2005 to 2009. As a result, the companies were fined by the court’s decision.
