Vemlidy dominates stagnant 300 bil. won hepatitis B market

Vemlidy has exceeded 60 million won in sales, leading growth in the prescription market for original pharmaceuticals

The market for Viread and Baraclude, original pharmaceuticals other than Vemlidy, is slowing down

Generics seen a slight decrease in prescription sales, with about a 6% decrease compared to last year

The market for hepatitis B treatment, worth 300 billion won annually, is currently experiencing a slowdown.

 

While Gilead Sciences Korea’s Vemlidy is expanding its market share, Viread and Baraclude are facing a decline.

 

In the generics market, Dong-A ST is leading the market.

 

Prescription sales for Vemlidy has increased by 26% compared to last year, while original drugs have shown poor performance According to the drug market research agency UBIST on the 26th, the market size for hospital outpatient prescriptions last year was 284.6 billion won, a 1.2% increase compared to 281.1 billion won in 2022.

 

Additionally, the market size for original drugs last year was 236 billion won, showing a slight increase from 229.2 billion won in 2022.

 

The size of the hepatitis B treatment market.

 

(Unit: KRW 100 million)

Vemlidy is experiencing rapid growth in the market for treating hepatitis B.

 

The original drug's sales have significantly decreased since Viread’s drug pricing reduction in 2018, and Vemlidy seems to be filling the void.

 

Vemlidy entered the Korean market in 2017.

 

In 2019, its prescription sales exceeded 10 billion won, and the sales continued to grow, with 39.3 billion won in 2021 and 49.2 billion won in 2022.

 

The prescription sales of Vemlidy recorded 61.9 billion won last year, a 25.8% increase compared to the previous year.

 

Vemlidy, a new hepatitis B drug developed by Gilead Sciences, is a follow-up to Viread.

 

Despite its effectiveness in inhibiting the hepatitis B virus, Viread is known to cause side-effects such as kidney injury and low bone mineral density.

 

If any problem arises with kidney function after receiving treatments, reimbursement standards allow Vemlidy to be replaced by Baraclude.

 

Vemlidy overcomes Viread's adverse effects.

 

In clinical trials, Vemlidy treatment demonstrated effectiveness in the long-term treatment of patients and observed no side effects related to kidney injury or low bone mineral density.

 

Considering that hepatitis B cannot be cured, the safety of long-term administration is crucial to both patients and medical professionals.

 

Gilead Sciences is switching Viread, its first marketed hepatitis B drug, with Vemlidy.

 

Changes in prescription performance of key hepatitis B treatment drugs.

 

(Unit: KRW 100 million)

Prescription sales of Viread were 164.7 billion won in 2018, but they have been declining since then, reaching 113.1 billion won in 2019 and dropping to 90 billion won in 2020.

 

Last year’s prescription sales amounted to 93.5 billion won, a 1.6% decrease from the previous year.

 

Baraclude recorded prescription sales of 73 billion won last year, indicating a 2.1% decrease from 2022.

 

The analysis suggests that the decline in Baraclude sales can be attributed to a reduction in drug pricing.

 

BMS Pharmaceutical voluntarily reduced the price of Baraclude, which had expired patent, as part of a trade-off approach following the listing of its acute myeloid leukemia treatment Onureg and myelofibrosis treatment Inrebic for reimbursements.

 

Prescription sales for GSK's Zeffix decreased by 13.1% from 3.8 billion won in 2022 to 3.3 billion won last year.

 

GSK was unable to capture the market share left by Hepsera's withdrawal.

 

Hepsera, a new drug for hepatitis B developed by GSK, recorded over 10 billion won in prescription sales in 2018.

 

However, about a quarter of patients experienced resistance to the drug and experienced difficulties in maintaining treatment.

 

GSK withdrew the approval for Hepsera in 2022, leading to its withdrawal from the Korean market.

 

Changes in prescription performance of key hepatitis B treatment drugs.

 

(Unit: KRW 100 million)

Sales of treatments from domestic pharmaceutical companies were not significant.

 

Bukwang Pharm’s Sebivo topped prescription sales of 1.2 billion won, showing a 25% decrease from the previous year.

 

Sebivo, a Novartis drug introduced by Bukwang Pharmaceutical in 2019, saw a decline in prescription performance even after Bukwang took over sales.

 

Il Dong's Besivo maintained its performance by generating prescription sales of 2.3 billion won last year, holding steady compared to the previous year.

 

Besivo has not shown significant growth since its launch in 2017.

 

Levovir, Bukwang Pharm's in-house developed hepatitis B drug, maintained its performance from 2022 by achieving sales of 800 million won last year.

 

Levovir, the first domestically approved hepatitis B treatment, received approval in 2006.

 

However, its prescription sales have consistently declined, recording less than 1 billion won since 2021.

 

Generic drug growth slowed…Decreased sales of generic versions of Viread and Baraclude Last year, prescription sales for some generic drugs were reported to have decreased, just like certain original pharmaceuticals.

 

Generic drugs for hepatitis B recorded prescription sales of 48.6 billion won last year, showing a 6.3% decrease from 51.9 billion won in 2022.

 

During the same period, the market share of generics also slightly decreased from 23% to 21%.

 

Yearly prescription performance of Viread and its generic versions.

 

(Unit: KRW 100 million)

Prescription sales for generic version of Viread decreased by 6.4% from 17.1 billion won in 2022 to 16 billion won last year.

 

Viread generic drug market has steadily increased prescription sales since surpassing 10 billion won in 2019, but its growth halted after five years.

 

Among them, Dong-A ST's Virreal, which holds the highest market share, experienced a 12.5% decrease in prescriptions, dropping from 3.2 billion won in 2022 to 2.8 billion won.

 

During the same period, Daewoong's Virehepa decreased by 11.8%, and Jeil Pharm’s Tecavir decreased by 15.2%.

 

Yearly prescription performance of Baraclude and its generic versions.

 

(Unit: KRW 100 million)

Prescription sales for Baraclude's generic version were recorded at 33.3 billion won last year, a 4.5% decrease compared to 2022.

 

Although this market surpassed 30 billion won in prescription sales in 2020, it did not significantly increase its market share.

 

Dong-A ST's Baracle recorded prescription sales of 10.5 billion won last year, becoming the only generic drug to surpass the 10 billion won mark.

 

In this market, Dong-A ST held a 32% market share.

 

Bukwang Pharmaceutical's Bukwang entecavir recorded 3.2 billion won last year, a 29% decrease from 4.5 billion won in 2022.

 

During the same period, Daewoong Pharmaceutical's Baracross increased from 3.3 billion won to 3 billion won, indicating a 9% decrease.

 

The prescription sales for JW Pharmaceutical’s Entekhan decreased by 17%.

 

Generic drug developers' next target is Vemlidy.

 

Aside from the first generics like Dae Woong’s Vemliver, Dong-A ST’s Vemlia, and CKD Pharmaceutical’s Tenofobell-A, five other companies have received approval for generic versions of Vemlidy in the domestic market.

 

These generics were officially launched in the last quarter of the previous year, contributing to a combined prescription amount of 800 million won for the quarter.

 

It will be interesting to see how Vemlidy's growth might impact the expansion of the generic pharmaceuticals market.

 

Due to issues related to reimbursement cuts, switching between hepatitis B treatments has been challenging.

 

However, generic companies plan to increase their market share by offering lower drug prices.

 

Currently, Vemlidy costs 3,500 won, but domestic generic companies have entered the market with prices in the 2,400 won range, approximately 70% of Vemlidy's price.