Lipiodol is in stable supply despite price cuts

an X-ray contrast agent

Guerbet Korea Lipiodol, new drug price hikes and cuts in the last 5 years, 'roller coaster'

Policies and systems that reasonably consider essential drug prices and margins must be implemented

Guerbet Korea X-ray contrast agent Lipiodol Ultra (iodized oil), which caused controversy over supply and demand, faced a drug price cut due to the entry into a generic on the 1st of last month.

 

Still, it is understood that the supply is stable so far.

 

In the meantime, Guerbet Korea has been negotiating with the health authorities for reasons such as 'reduced margins due to price hikes for raw material drugs' and 'justice to maintain current drug prices due to application for price adjustment'.

 

However, in 2020, Dongkook Pharm's Fattiodol, a competitive product with the nature of an alternative drug, obtained approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and was released, and the generic drug price calculation following patent expiration was applied from May 1 this year.

 

Last year's sales of Lipiodol and Fattiodol according to drug distribution performance standards were about 2.8 billion won and 36 million won, respectively.

 

According to industry estimates, Guerbet Korea did not take out the extreme card of refusal to supply because it cannot hand over the market to competing generics.

 

Lipiodol, an old-drug original drug licensed in 1998, was sold at 52,560 won in June 2018, 190,000 won in August 2018, 189,224 won in January 2022, 133,000 won in September 2022, and 189,224 won in September 2022.

 

It has experienced drug price increases and decreases seven times in the last five years, including 19,224 won, 133,000 won in 2023, and 101,745 won in May 2023.

 

The price of Fattiodol 10·5ml was reduced twice: 113,050 won and 75,367 won in 2020 and 101,745 won and 67,830 won in 2023.

 

Regarding this, Dongkuk Pharmaceutical said, "We plan to do our best to ensure a stable supply of Fattiodol from the patient's point of view.

 

However, it is true that the cost rate of related drugs is so high that profitability is not good." It is a necessary part to reestablish the direction of rational drug price calculation.” Since cost disclosure is a corporate trade secret, it is difficult to ascertain the exact details.

 

In addition, Guerbet Korea and Dongkuk Pharmaceutical's only way to raise or preserve drug prices is to apply for a drug price adjustment, but they cannot use it because there are alternative drugs for Lipiodol and Fattiodol.

 

Because of this, both Guerbet Korea, the original company, and Dongkuk Pharmaceutical, the generic company, are bound by the institutional shackles of essential medicines and are forced to fall into the dilemma of continuous supply of drugs, which is their ethical duty as pharmaceutical companies.

 

In the worst case, if two pharmaceutical companies stop supply at the same time because of lower margins due to drug price cuts, a supply-demand crisis is expected.

 

On the other hand, Lipiodol's main ingredient is iodized fatty acid ethyl ester (iodized oil) derived from poppy seeds and is used for lymphography, salivary gland imaging, carotid artery chemoembolization for liver cancer, and hysterosalpingography.