BMS and Gilead compete tightly in HBV drug market in KOR

Sales of the 2 companies account for 98% of market

Market size KRW 200 billion... Baraclude·Viread sells KRW 69.5 billion and KRW 62.8 billion, respectively

Vemlidy posts sales of KRW 34.9 billion... Ranks 3rd and continues on its upward sales trend

Ildong Pharmacuetical's Besivo records KRW 1.7 billion in sales... is steadily increasing its share in the market

BMS’s Baraclude and Gilead Science’s Viread are fiercely competing in the KRW 200 billion original hepatitis B treatment market.

 

Based on drug distribution results, sales of Baraclude and Viread, the No.1 and No.2 products in the HBV market in 2022, were tallied at KRW 69.5 billion and KRW 62.8 billion, respectively.

 

Just last year, Baraclude’s sales slightly surpassed that of Viread, however, in 2018, 2019, and 2021, Viread (KRW 116.7 billion, KRW 83 billion, KRW 63.1 billion) posted higher sales than Baraclude (KRW 70 billion, KRW 69.8 billion, KRW 62.1 billion).

 

However, Gilead Sciences' steep rise in sales of its total corporate product lineup of HBV products is noteworthy.

 

The company also owns Vemlidy, which posted sales of KRW 34.9 billion last year.

 

When combining sales of Viread and Vemlidy, the two drugs occupy 55.9% of the total market share with KRW 97.7 billion, far ahead of Baraclude’s 39.8%.

 

The 4th to 8th in line, GSK’s Zeffix, Ildong Pharamceutical’s Besivo, GSK’s Hepsera, Novartis’s Sebivo, and Bukwang Pharmacuetical’s Levovir made sales of KRW 3 billion, KRW 1.7 billion, KRW 1 billion, KRW 1 billion, and KRW 600 million, respectively, occupying 0.4% to 1.8% share of the market.

 

Sales performance of all of the lower-ranking product groups, excluding Besivo, had been on a range-bound downward slope for the past 5 years.

 

Sales of Besivo, a new homegrown drug introduced in Korea, on the other hand, have been growing steadily.

 

In 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, the drug sold KRW 400 million, KRW 900 million, KRW 1.2 billion, KRW 1.5 billion, and KRW 1.7 billion, and is expected to settle as a new growth engine for Ildong Pharmaceutical in the future.

 

Meanwhile, Baraclude (entecavir) 1mg and 0.5mg is indicated for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in adults (aged 16 or older) and pediatric patients aged 2 years or older with evidence of active viral replication, persistently elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and histological evidence of active inflammation and/or fibrosis.

 

Viread and Vemlidy Tab (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) are indicated for the ‘treatment of chronic hepatitis B and HIV 1 infection in adults and pediatric patients 12 years or older,’ and ‘treatment of chronic hepatitis B in adults,’ respectively.

 

Zeffix (lamivudine), Besivo (Besifovir dipivoxil), Hepsera (adefovir dipivoxil), Sebivo (telbivudine), and Levovir (clevudine) are indicated for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection.

 

Baraclude is a guanosine nucleoside analog with specific activity against HBV DNA polymerase that inhibits the synthesis of the HBV DNA positive strand.

 

It has demonstrated a long-term treatment effect and safety with a high virus suppression effect and low resistance.

 

Viread’s mechanism of action is similar to adefovir, a nucleotide analog, but has a much stronger antiviral effect, and has achieved 0% resistance until recently.

 

Vemlidy is an HBV treatment that Gilead released as an upgraded version of ‘Viread (tenofovir).’ It contains the same active ingredient, tenofovir, but comes in a 1/10 dose, demonstrating improved safety with comparable efficacy to the existing product.

 

Meanwhile, GSK’s adefovir dipiboxil hepatitis B treatment Hepsera Tab., which currently maintains an insurance listed price of KRW 3,839, is set to be deleted from the reimbursement list on August 1st, and expected to be withdrawn from the Korean market then.