Atozet market ↑40% in 1 year...Lipitor Plus leads generics

Rises from KRW 36.6 billion in Q3 last year to KRW 51.1 billion this year...sales original version slows down

Sales of Lipitor Plus rise 4.6 times...rises as the lead among generic drugs in prescriptions

The atorvastatin and ezetimibe combination market has grown 40% in a single year.

 

The cumulative prescription amount of related generics increased over twofold and drove the market growth.

 

In particular, Jeil Pharmaceutical and Viatris Korea’s Lipitor Plus is rapidly increasing its influence in the market.

 

Prescription sales of Lipitor Plus rose 4.6 times in one year and became the highest-performing product among all generics.

 

◆Prescipriton of Atozet generics rise 96% in a year…market share increases to 56% According to the market research institution UBIST on the 7th, the outpatient prescription sales of the atorvastatin and ezetimibe combination had reached KRW 51.1 billion in Q3 this year.

 

This is a 39.8% increase from the KRW 36.6 billion made in Q3 last year.

 

The original product in the market is MSD’s Atozet.

 

Atozet’s prescriptions in Q3 this year were KRW 22.5 billion, rising 2.3% in one year.

 

With sales of the original drug slowing down, the market growth is being evaluated to have been driven by the generics.

 

Prescription of Atozet generics rose around twofold (96%) in one year, from KRW 14.6 billion in Q3 last year to KRW 28.6 billion in Q3 this year.

 

The market share of atorvastatin and ezetimibe combination generics has been growing rapidly since their release in Q2 last year.

 

Their prescriptions, which had amounted to KRW 6.9 billion in Q2, had risen to KRW 14.6 billion in Q3, and KRW 19.3 billion in Q4.

 

In Q1 this year, the generics made KRW 22.1 billion, exceeding sales of the original version (KRW 21.4 billion).

 

Its growth continued on since then to occupy 56.0% of the market in Q3.

 

In Korea, 112 companies were approved to manufacture atorvastatin and ezetimibe combination generics.

 

Chong Kun Dang first received approval for ‘Lipilouzet’, a combination drug that contains the same ingredients as Atozet in October 2020.

 

In January of the following year, 21 companies received approval for their authorized generics of Lipilouzet.

 

Authorized generics refer to already approved generic products with different packaging.

 

The drugs were listed for reimbursement in April last year.

 

Latecomer generics joined the competition in February.

 

88 companies received approval for Atozet generics then, which were listed for reimbursement in May last year, one year later than the authorized generics of Lipilouzet.

 

Among the companies, 83 are currently selling atorvastatin and ezetimibe combination drugs.

 

◆Lipitor Plus rises as the leading generic in the market despite low price Among the selling atorvastatin and ezetimibe combination generics, Lipitor Plus’s rapid growth is gathering attention.

 

Pic of Lipitor Plus

Lipitor Plus’s Q3 prescription amount was KRW 3.7 billion, a 4.6 times rise from the KRW 0.8 billion it had made in Q3 last year.

 

At the same time, the drug recorded the highest prescription performance among all atorvastatin and ezetimibe combination generics.

 

Its cumulative prescription amount by Q3 this year is KRW 8.6 billion, and the analysis is that its annual prescription is highly likely to exceed KRW 10 billion this year.

 

Lipitor Plus was released as an Atozet generic, not an authorized generic of Lipilouzet.

 

Being listed a month later than the authorized generics of Lipilouzet, its price was set at a lower price than other generics.

 

Based on the 10/10mg dose, the insured ceiling price of Lipilouzet is KRW 1,037, whereas the price of authorized generics of Lipilouzet is 85% of that at KRW 881, and Atozet generics 30% of that at KRW 637.

 

In accordance with the reform of the drug pricing system in July 2020, the price ceiling of 20 of the 21 authorized generics that were listed at the same time as Lipilouzet was set at 85% of the highest price.

 

This is because the drugs did not meet the requirement of “directly conducting a bioequivalence test”, one of the two requirements that need to be met to receive the highest ceiling price among generics.

 

As the number listed identical products exceeded 20 by the time the Atozet generics were listed a month later, their price was set as the lower of the two - '85% of the price of the drug that did not meet the two requirements' or '85% of the previous lowest price’ - regardless of whether or not the two requirements were met.

 

As a result, the price ceiling of Atozet generics was set around 30% lower than the authorized generics of Lipilouzet.

 

Due to its low price, the sales performance of Lipitor Plus had not been good earlier in its release.

 

In Q3 last year, its prescriptions had been lower than that of its competitors, such as Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s Litorvazet (KRW 1.7 billion), Boryung Pharmaceutical’s L50 (KRW 1.6 billion), Yuhan Corp’s Atovamibe (KRW 1.4 billion), HK Inno.N’s Zepitor (KRW 1 billion).

 

Q3 prescription sales of major atorvastatin+ezetimibe generics

However, Viatris and Jeil Pharmaceutical made a joint promotion agreement and rapidly increased prescriptions of Lipitor Plus.

 

For Lipitor Plus, Viatris will be supplying the API of Lipitor, atorvastatin to Jeil Pharmaceutical, and the final product will be manufactured and produced by Jeil Pharmaceutical.

 

The two companies will manage and jointly promote sales of the drug.

 

The fact that Lipitor (atorvastatin), one of the main ingredients in Lipitor Plus, is still exerting much influence in the prescription field, positively influencing the sales performance of its follow-on, Lipitor Plus.

 

Following Lipitor Plus, Daewoong’s Litorvazet sold KRW 3.6 billion, Boryung’s L50 sold KRW 2.4 billion, Yuhan Corp’s Atovamibe KRW 2.2 billion, HK.Inno.N’s Zepitor KRW 2 billion, and Ahngook’s Lipozet KRW 1.5 billion in Q3 this year.

 

Quarterly sales of other products in the market were less than KRW 1 billion.