↓↓Sales of smoking cessation txs by 75% in 4 yrs

Leading Champix's sales fell 65.6% year-on-year due to last year's impurity crisis

Original distribution stopped and the entire market was reduced

The market for Varenicline, a non-smoking supplement, has fallen to a quarter in four years.

 

This is because the distribution of the original drug Pfizer Champix, which led the market, was suspended due to an impurity crisis in the second half of last year.

 

According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical research institute, sales of Varenicline last year were 16.2 billion won, down 22.1% from the previous year.

 

Compared to the sales of the Varenicline system of 65 billion won in 2017, it decreased by 75.1% in four years.

 

(Data: IQVIA)

Most of the sales of Varenicline products came from the original product Champix.

 

However, as Champix's sales fell, the overall market size also fell.

 

Champix's sales fell 65.6% from the previous year to 9.2 billion won last year.

 

The reason for the sharp drop in sales of Champix last year is the impurity crisis.

 

In June last year, Champix's worldwide distribution was suspended due to excessive detection of NNV, which is believed to be a carcinogen.

 

Of the 9.2 billion won in sales posted by Champix last year, 93.4% posted in the first half.

 

Champix's sales in the third and fourth quarters of last year were only 600 million won and 28,000 won, respectively.

 

Champix was released on the market in 2007 with permission from the MFDS.

 

Varenicline partially binds to nicotine receptors in the brain to relieve smoking needs and withdrawal symptoms.

 

Compared to anti-smoking aids that absorb Nicotine into the body to control withdrawal symptoms and smoking needs, Champix gradually stood out with this mechanism.

 

Sales of Champix increased sharply as the government's anti-smoking treatment support policy began in 2015.

 

The smoking cessation treatment support policy is a policy that provides full support for drug prices to participants who complete all smoking cessation treatment programs for 12 weeks.

 

Drugs such as Varenicline, Bupropion, and Nicotine supplements are fully supported.

 

Champix's sales in 2015 amounted to 24.2 billion won, nearly quadrupling from the previous year.

 

Since then, it has risen vertically to 48.8 billion won in 2016 and 65 billion won in 2017.

 

However, since 2018, sales have declined due to a decrease in drug prices and a decrease in participants in smoking cessation treatment support projects.

 

Champix's sales fell nearly half from 41.2 billion won in 2018 to 20.7 billion won in 2020.

 

Sales of generic Jeil's Nico Chams are increasing as Champix is kicked out of the market due to controversy over impurities.

 

Ten generics are currently on sale in the Varenicline market, but sales are not very large except for Nico Chams.

 

Nico Chams is an item manufactured by Jeil.

 

Nico Chams recorded 2.9 billion won in sales last year.

 

Nico Chams appeared in the market in the third quarter of 2020 and sales were 40 million won until the second quarter of last year.

 

Sales of Nico Chams have grown since the third quarter of last year.

 

Nico Chams' sales rose sharply from 700 million won in the third quarter of last year to 2.2 billion won in the fourth quarter.

 

Nico Chams replaced Champix because the amount of impurities detected in Varenicline drugs met the standards of the MFDS.

 

In September last year, the MFDS allowed NNV to be released only if it was 185 ng/day or less.

 

Initially, in Korea, CTC Bio and Jeil were in charge of manufacturing Varenicline product of seven domestic pharmaceutical companies and 24 domestic pharmaceutical companies, respectively.

 

Among them, only the Varenicline produced by Jeil had NNV detection of 16.70 to 43.28 ng/day, which was lower than the MFDS' standard, enabling distribution.

 

CTC Bio's manufacturing items exceeded the shipping availability standard.

 

Jeil is planning to increase Nico Chams' prescription.

 

Nico Chams is prescribed in 9,000 out of 15,000 hospitals and clinics.