Keytruda monopolizes the domestic pharmaceutical market

Keytruda leads for 6 consecutive quarters in sales records for each drug item in the first half of the year

K-CAB is the only domestic developed drug in the top ten

MSD's immuno-cancer drug Keytruda has taken the lead in the domestic pharmaceutical market for the sixth consecutive period since the first quarter of last year.

 

New drugs recently released by domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies such as Perjeta, Prolia, and K-CAB are growing.

 

According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical research firm on the 23rd, Keytruda recorded the highest sales of ₩93.3 billion in the first half of last year.

 

It is up 29.% from the same period last year.

 

Keytruda saw its sales rise 27.0% year-on-year to ₩44.1 billion in the first quarter, and continued its growth rate of 31.0% with sales of ₩49.2 billion in the second quarter.

 

Keytruda has topped the list for the sixth consecutive quarter since its first quarterly sales of ₩34.7 billion in the first quarter of last year.

 

Keytruda, which was released in Korea in 2015, is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that inhibits 'PD-1' protein on the surface of immune cell T cells to treat cancer through activation of immune cells.

 

It is showing outstanding performance in more than 30 cancer species including lung, parietal, gastric, and cervical cancer.

 

Keytruda's quarterly sales remained around ₩3 billion shortly after its release, but sales began to rise at a rapid pace since August 2017 when insurance benefits were applied as a secondary treatment for non-small cell lung cancer.

 

Keytruda surpassed ₩10 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2018 and ₩30 billion in sales in the second quarter of 2019.

 

In the first quarter of last year, Lipitor, which had never missed the lead in quarterly sales since the fourth quarter of 2015, was ranked No.

 

1 overall.

 

In the second quarter, Keytruda had a sales gap of more than ₩10 billion with the second-largest Lippitor (₩38.3 billion).

 

The gap with Avastin (₩30.2 billion) is close to ₩20 billion.

 

Sales of new drugs recently released by domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies such as Perjeta, Prolia, and K-CAB have risen sharply.

 

Roche's Perjeta saw its first-half sales rise 29.6% year-on-year to ₩45 billion.

 

Perjeta is a metastatic or localized HER2-positive breast cancer patient who has never received HER2 targeted chemotherapy or chemotherapy.

 

It is a drug used in combination with Trastuzumab or Docetaxel.

 

Perjeta is a primary treatment for HER2-positive metastatic or intemperable breast cancer patients who have never received anti-HER2 treatment in 2017, and sales also surged as Trastuzumab and combination therapy became the standard for preoperative supplementary therapy in May 2019.

 

Perjeta ranked seventh overall in the second quarter, with sales rising 34.7% year-on-year to ₩23.6 billion.

 

Amgen's Prolia ranked ninth overall, with sales rising 21.6% year-on-year to ₩42.4 billion in the first half.

 

Prolia, which was released in Korea in November 2016, is a biomedicine osteoporosis treatment that targets protein RANKL, which is essential for the formation, activation and survival of bone-destroying skeletal cells.

 

Prolia's sales have exploded since April 2019 as insurance benefits have been recognized in primary treatment therapy.

 

Chong Kun Dang is jointly selling Prolia with Amzen.

 

HK inno.N's new drug K-Cap, an anti-orgel drug, was the only one among the top 10 developed drugs in Korea, with sales rising 57.4% year-on-year to ₩41.7 billion in the first half.

 

K-CAB, which was released in March 2019, is an anti- ulcer drug of the potassium competitive gastric acid secretion inhibitor (P-CAB) family of Tegoprazan.

 

It is a new mechanism for inhibiting gastric acid secretion by competitively combining proton pumps and potassium ions located in the final stage of acid secretion in stomach wall cells.

 

K-CAB secured an indication of gastrointestinal reflux disease as its first indication, and added gastrointestinal ulcer treatment adaptation in July of the same year, showing more sales growth.

 

Sanofi's anti-thrombotic drug Plavix increased sales by 21.3% year-on-year to ₩46.8 billion in the first half of the year.

 

Patent of Plavix expired in 2007 and more than 100 generics were released.

 

It has been more than 10 years since the patent expired and is showing rather steep growth even though it competes with more than 100 generics.