Sales in the herpes zoster market have halved in 2 years

Sales of Zostavax and Sky Zoster in 1st quarter of this year are ₩10.9 billion

Sales are at their lowest level since the launch of Sky Zoster due to the spread of COVID-19

Sales in the domestic shingles prevention vaccine market, which had been on the mend, fell again.

 

In December last year, sales of two vaccines to prevent shingles fell as the vaccination rate fell in the wake of the third pandemic of COVID-19.

 

According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical research institute, the size of the vaccine market for shingles prevention in the first quarter was ₩10.9 billion, down 10.8% from ₩12.2 billion a year earlier.

 

It is down 44.5% from ₩19.7 billion.

 

The first quarter of last year was a time when the economy stagnated sharply as COVID-19 pandemic began around the world.

 

South Korea's two vaccines for shingles prevention were competing, but sales fell to the lowest level.

 

This year's sales declined from the first quarter of last year, further slowing down.

 

Two types of shingles prevention vaccines are being sold in Korea, including MSD's Zostavax and SK Bioscience's Sky Zoster.

 

It was monopolized by Zostavax, but it continued to grow rapidly with the advent of Sky Zoster in late 2017.

 

The successful shingles prevention vaccine market has worsened in the face of an unexpected infection crisis.

 

Its fourth quarter sales increased to ₩27.9 billion and halved to ₩12.2 billion in the early stages of COVID-19 crisis.

 

Although its second quarter sales recovered to ₩22.6 billion, but decreased again to ₩20.3 billion in third quarter and ₩17.3 billion in fourth quarter.

 

Until the first quarter of this year, quarterly sales have fallen for three consecutive quarters, and have rarely recovered.

 

The industry believes that the vaccine market for shingles prevention is more easily affected by factors such as the epidemic of infectious diseases than other drug markets prescribed for chronic diseases.

 

Since it is a vaccine to prevent diseases, not treatments used in urgent situations, the inoculation rate will inevitably fall if patients avoid visits to medical institutions.

 

The fact that the COVID-19 vaccination, developed by Pfizer and AstraZeneca since early this year, has also had some impact on the decrease in the number of other vaccinations.

 

The market for adult vaccines is sluggish, with the exception of pneumococcal vaccines that benefited from COVID-19.

 

Both Zostavax and Sky Zoster have drawn similar quarterly sales distributions since last year.

 

Sales of Zostavax in the first quarter were ₩6.5 billion, down 10.9% from a year earlier.

 

This is a 40.6% decrease from $10.9 billion (10.9 billion KRW) in previous quarter.Sky Zoster posted sales of ₩4.4 billion in the first quarter, down 10.6% from a year earlier.

 

Compared to the previous quarter, it decreased by 30.6%.

 

As sales of the two products showed similar ups and downs, market share was similar.

 

Sky Zoster's share in the first quarter stood at 40.4%, no significant difference from 40.3% a year earlier.

 

There is another variable in the domestic shingles prevention vaccine market.

 

GSK reportedly applied to the MFDS for the approval of Shingrix earlier this year.

 

Starting with FDA approval in 2017, Shingrix is a product that has been sold in major countries around the world.

 

Demand was high enough to cause scarcity overseas.

 

Market competition is expected to intensify if GSK starts selling Shingrix in Korea.