Obesity treatment market expands 66% in 4 yrs

The market size in the first quarter is 35.7 billion, 11% increase from the same period last year

The obesity treatment market continues to grow with the launch of new products.

 

The size of the new market has expanded by more than 60% over the past four years.

 

According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical research institute, on the 29th, the size of the obesity treatment market in the first quarter was 35.7 billion won, up 11.3% year-on-year.

 

The domestic obesity treatment market is continuously on the rise, growing 66.4% in four years from 21.4 billion won in the first quarter of 2018.

 

Quarterly obesity treatment market size (left) and sales of Saxenda/Qsymia (right) trend (unit: 100 million won, data: IQVIA)

The recent growth of the obesity treatment market is driven by new products Saxenda and Qsymia.

 

Saxenda, which was released in Korea in 2018, is the world's first obesity treatment approved as a GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide 1) similar.

 

The ingredients are the same as those prescribed for type 2 diabetes patients, but only the usage and dose are different.

 

Saxenda ranked first in the obesity treatment market with sales of 5.6 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2018.

 

Then Saxenda is leading the way for 14 consecutive quarters until the first quarter.

 

Sales rose 54.7% to 10.4 billion won in the first quarter.

 

Growth has slowed somewhat since hitting 10.9 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2019, but it has recently risen sharply again, surpassing 10 billion won in quarterly sales in nine quarters.

 

The perception that Saxenda is relatively safe was formed because it acts as the same mechanism as GLP-1 in the human body to suppress appetite and reduce weight.

 

Qsymia, which was released at the end of 2019, is combination of Pentermine and Topiramate that Alvogen Korea secured domestic copyright from Vivus in 2017.

 

Alvogen Korea signed a joint sales contract with Chong Kun Dang at the end of 2019 and started selling it in Korea in earnest.

 

Qsymia has recorded more than 5 billion won in sales since the third quarter of 2020.

 

Sales reached 6.3 billion won in the first quarter, up 7.1% from the previous year.

 

Qsymia analyzed that Alvogen Korea and Chong Kun Dang's sales power, which have a wide sales network in the domestic obesity treatment market through sales experience such as Furing and Furimin, quickly penetrated the market.

 

Even though it is a PO formulation, the fact that it has relatively low psychotropic drug content and can be prescribed for a long time is also considered a success factor.

 

Qsymia once closely pursued Saxenda and established a two-way system in the obesity drug market.

 

Qsymia's sales in the first quarter of last year were 5.9 billion won, with a gap of only 800 million won from Saxenda.

 

The gap between the two products is widening as Saxenda has recently recorded rapid growth again.

 

The gap between Saxenda and Qsymia widened to 3 billion won in the second quarter of last year and further widened to 4.1 billion won in the first quarter of this year.

 

Saxenda accounted for 29.1% of the total obesity treatment market in the first quarter, up 8.1% from 21.0% a year earlier.

 

Qsymia market share fell to 17.8% from 18.4% in the first quarter of last year.

 

Daewoong Pharmaceutical's two products, Dietamin and Hutermin, exceeded 1 billion won in sales in the quarter.

 

Dietamin and Hurtamin recorded 1.9 billion won and 1.2 billion won in sales in the first quarter, respectively, showing a decline compared to the previous year.