Champix supply interruption

Jeil Pharmaceutical's Nico Chams accumulated 800 million won in the third quarter of last year → 7.3 billion won vertical increase this year

Avoiding suspension of sales due to detection within the impurity tolerance

Increase the market share to 87%

Jeil Pharmaceutical's Nico Chams has dominated the market for anti-smoking treatment aids with Varenicline ingredients.

 

Analysts say that while sales of major products, including Pfizer Champix, were suspended due to the detection of impurities in NNV components in September last year, it succeeded in digging into the gap and raising its influence to the level of market monopoly.

 

◆ First Pharmaceutical's Nico Chams share is 1% to 87% According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market research firm on the 13th, Jeil Pharmaceutical's Nico Chams' cumulative sales in the third quarter were 7.3 billion won.

 

It increased more than nine times from 800 million won accumulated in the third quarter of last year.

 

Sales have risen vertically since a series of impurities were detected in the anti-smoking treatment aid containing Varenicline in September last year.

 

At that time, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced the results of the NNV detection test on Varenicline-based drugs and decided to suspend sales only for products exceeding 185 ng/day.

 

Products with a detection amount of 733 ng/day or more were ordered to be recovered.

 

Among the products that were distributed in Korea, sales of seven products that CTC Bio had commissioned and one product that Pfizer Pharmaceutical Korea imported have been suspended.

 

Nineteen manufacturing number items from three companies produced by CTC Bio have been ordered to be recovered.

 

Pfizer Pharmaceutical Korea voluntarily recalled it.

 

In the case of products produced by Jeil, impurities were detected for 16.70 to 43.28 ng/day, and they survived the recovery as well as the suspension of sales.

 

Nico Chams' share also increased significantly around this point Until the second quarter of 2021, just before the suspension of sales, Nico Chams' market share was only 0.7%.

 

However, the market share jumped to 24% in the third quarter of 2021, right after the suspension of sales.

 

It then increased to 68% in the fourth quarter, and further expanded to 87% in the third quarter of this year.

 

Based on sales in the third quarter, Nico Chams is actually over-exclusive with 2.4 billion won, and the rest is less than 200 million won.

 

◆Varenicline Market 34% in a Year↓ The lack of smoking cessation business overlaps with the prolonged suspension of sales.

 

With the withdrawal of major products, the size of the anti-smoking treatment aid market for Varenicline ingredients decreased by 34% from 13 billion won in the third quarter of last year to 8.6 billion won in a year.

 

This market has been on the decline for the past four consecutive years.

 

As the government launched an anti-smoking treatment support project in 2015, the market expanded to 65 billion won in 2017 but has since shrunk to 16.2 billion won last year as it has steadily declined.

 

This is the result of a combination of a reduction in drug prices and a decrease in the number of participants in the anti-smoking treatment project.

 

On top of that, it is expected to decrease further this year due to the prolonged suspension of sales of impurity drugs that occurred in the third quarter of last year.

 

Champix, which previously led the market, has still been suspended from sales and distribution as the impurity issue has not been resolved.

 

Champix's sales plunged from 4.6 billion won in the second quarter of last year to 600 million won in the third quarter.

 

Since then, sales of less than 10 million won have been recorded every quarter.

 

Pfizer Pharmaceutical Korea said, "We are waiting for the resumption of supply at the global headquarters," adding, "We do not know the plans for the resumption of sales at this time."