Forxiga will maintain its price for 10 months in KOR

The drug price cut disposition receives a stay of execution from the court

Court accepts the suspension of execution request for Forxiga and Xigduo on the 1st

Drugs will maintain their price until Feb 29th, 2024

Succeeded in preventing KRW 23 billion loss that would have risen during the 10 months of suspension of execution

The prices of AstraZeneca’s SGLT-2 inhibitor ‘Forxiga (dapagliflozin)’ and combination drug ‘Xigduo’ will stay as is until February next year.

 

On the 1st, the Seoul Administrative Court’s 1st Administrative Division accepted the suspension of execution filed by AstraZeneca against the Ministry of Health and Welfare to cancel the drug price cut disposition for Forxiga and Xigduo.

 

With the court’s ruling, Forxiga and Xigduo will be able to maintain their price until February 29, 2024.

 

The litigation date for the merits of the lawsuit has not been set yet.

 

The SGLT-2 inhibitors Forxiga and Xigduo are blockbuster diabetes treatments that contain dapagliflozin which has been raising KRW 90 billion in outpatient prescriptions a year.

 

The two products were subject to price cuts due to the entry of many dapagliflozin generics in April.

 

With the listing of their generics, the government had announced that it will make an ex officio adjustment to the prices of Forxiga and Xigduo, reducing it by 30% as of May 1st.

 

In objection, AstraZeneca filed an administrative lawsuit and at the same time applied for suspension of execution.

 

As Forxiga and Xigduo also have indications for chronic heart failure and chronic kidney disease that for which the patent had not expired yet, the company argued that the listing of generics that only have the diabetes indication cannot serve as a basis for lowering the price of the original drug.

 

The company also claimed that the damages incurred from the non-acceptance of the suspension of execution will be irrecoverable.

 

In April, the court temporarily suspended the enforcement of drug price cuts for the two products and extended the stay of execution by 2 more after examining the suspension of execution on the 16th, until a decision was made on whether to accept the claim.

 

As the court ruled to suspend execution on the 1st, AstraZeneca Korea will now able to continue its main lawsuit while maintaining the current price for Forxiga and Xigduo.

 

During the 10-month term the suspension of execution is applied, AstraZeneca Korea will be able to prevent a loss of about KRW 23 billion (based on UBIST) that could have risen due to drug price cuts.

 

If the main lawsuit is not ruled upon by February 29, 2024, the suspension of the execution period may also be extended further.