Keytruda leads the market for 3 consecutive years

2022 pharma sales ranking in Korea... Keytruda’s sales surge after receiving reimbursement extension

New drugs from multinational pharmaceutical companies rise suddenly

Gardasil 9, Prolia, Opdivo, and Dupixent newly join the KRW 100 billion club

The immuno-oncology drug Keytruda has topped the rank in pharmaceutical sales for 3 consecutive years.

 

Also, new drugs from multinational pharmaceutical companies, such as Gardasil 9, Prolia, Opdivo, and Dupixent showed strong growth and joined the KRW 100 billion club after exceeding KRW 100 billion in sales last year.

 

On the 22nd, according to the pharmaceutical research institution IQVIA, MDSD's Keytruda's sales topped the market by recordeingKRW 239.6 billion last year.

 

This is a 19.7% YoY increase from the previous year.

 

This is the third consecutive year the drug has held the lead after taking the top spot for the first time in 2020 with sales of KRW 155.7 billion.

 

Also, Keytruda’s sales exceeded 200 billion won for 2 consecutive years since 2021.

 

Keytruda is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that inhibits PD-1 proteins expressed at the surface of activated T cells, thereby inhibiting its binding to PD-L1 and activating the immune system to treat cancer.

 

The drug is currently approved for 16 cancers: ▲Lung cancer, ▲head, and neck cancer, ▲ Hodgkin lymphoma, ▲urothelial carcinoma (bladder cancer), ▲esophageal cancer, ▲ melanoma, ▲renal cell cancer (kidney cancer), ▲endometrial cancer, ▲stomach cancer, ▲small intestine cancer, ▲ovarian cancer, ▲pancreatic cancer, ▲biliary tract cancer, ▲colorectal cancer ▲triple negative breast cancer, and ▲cervical cancer.

 

It is indicated for the largest number of cancer types among cancer immunotherapies approved in Korea.

 

In the early years of its release, in 2016 and 2017, its sales had only been KRW 100 billion and KRW 12.2 billion.

 

However, its sales started to surge with reimbursement approval.

 

After reimbursement was applied for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in August 2017, its sales soared over fivefold to KRW 70.3 billion in 2018, and then exceeded KRW 100 billion by 2019.

 

In 2020, the drug outsold the then-lead Lipitor and rose to the lead.

 

Last year, Keytruda continued strong growth amid favorable and unfavorable events.

 

Keytruda’s insurance ceiling price had fallen 25.6% with its reimbursement extension to first-line treatment of NSCLC in March this year.

 

Its sales in Q1 last year had fallen 8.4% compared to the same quarter the previous year due to the price cut – to KRW 40.4 billion – but it recovered its momentum after the benefits from its first line reimbursement were applied in earnest.

 

When considering the price cut that was applied to Keytruda, its sales volume has increased by over 60%.

 

New drugs from multinational pharmaceutical companies showed strong sales and made the ranks last year.

 

MSD’s HPV vaccine Gardasil 9 ranked third last year with sales of KRW 117 billion, rising 61.2% from the previous year.

 

Gardasil 9 is an improved version of the company’s Gardasil, which offers protection for four serotypes (6, 11, 16, and 18).

 

Gardasil 9 offers protection for five more serotypes (31, 33, 45, 52, 58) than Gardasil.

 

Also, It contains the most HPV types among cervical cancer vaccines.

 

Vaccinations among males for Gardasil 9, which was released at the end of 2016, have also been rising every year with the news spreading that Gardasil 9 offers protection for HPV-related diseases other than cervical cancer, such as anal cancer, genital warts, and precancerous lesions.

 

Also, the revaccination rate has also risen greatly among adults who already received vaccination after the recommended age was expanded from 9-26 to 27-45 in July 2020.

 

Sales of Gardasil 9 had increased over twofold in 2 years from KRW 42.5 billion in 2020 to exceed KRW 100 billion for the first time last year.

 

Amgen’s Prolia ranked fourth raising KRW 115.7 billion YoY last year.

 

Prolia, a biological osteoporosis treatment that targets the RANKL protein essential for the formation, activation, and survival of osteoclasts that destroy the bone, was released in November 2016 in Korea.

 

Its sales started to rise after it was applied reimbursement as a second-line treatment in 2017.

 

After additionally being approved for reimbursement in the first line from April 2019, Prolia’s sales rose explosively and its annual sales exceeded KRW 100 billion for the first time.

 

Prolia is copromoted by Chong Kun Dang in Korea.

 

Sales of Ono Pharmaceutical’s cancer immunotherapy Opdivo increased 29.3% YoY to record ₩109.9 billion this year.

 

Opdivo, which was approved in 2015, recorded a high growth rate of 64.7% in two years from the 66.7 billion it had earned in 2020, and its annual sales exceeded 100 billion for the first time last year.

 

Sales of Sanofi’s atopic dermatitis treatment Dupixent rose 36.3% YoY to record ₩105.2 billion last year.

 

Dupixent is the first targeted biologic for the treatment of moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription topical therapies or who cannot use topical therapies.

 

Sales of Dupixent, which was approved in March 2018, increased rapidly after it was approved for reimbursement for severe atopic dermatitis in January 2020, and exceeded KRW 100 billion last year.

 

Roche’s Perjeta’s annual sales rose 9.4% YoY to record KRW 102.7 billion last year.

 

Perjeta is approved for use in combination with docetaxel and trastuzumab in patients with metastatic or unresectable locally advanced HER2-positive breast cancer who have not received anti-HER2 therapy or chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer.

 

The drug was approved for reimbursement to treat patients with metastatic or unresectable locally advanced HER2-positive breast cancer who have not received anti-HER2 therapy in 2017.

 

After the drug was granted selective reimbursement in May 2019, trastuzumab and combination therapy settled as the standard adjuvant therapy and its sales exceeded KRW 100 billion.

 

Among new drugs developed by domestic pharmaceutical companies, HK.Inno.N’s K-CAB’s sales rose 16.0% YoY to record KRW 104.8 billion and ranked eighth last year.

 

K-CAB, which was released in March 2019.

 

It has a new mechanism of action that inhibits gastric acid secretion by competitively binding to the proton pump and potassium ion located in the final stage of acid secretion.