Antidiabetic DPP-4 inhibitor breaks record of KRW 600 bn

SGLT-2 inhibitor Forxiga and Jardiance soar by 29% hitting KRW 120 billion

DPP-4 inhibitor show 6% growth, Zemiglo, Tenelia and Suganon absorb more market share

The outpatient prescription volume of antidiabetic dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors exceeded over 600 billion won for the first time in the history.

 

The market is steadfastly growing with about 6 percent surge from last year.

 

The experts hint the oral antidiabetic drug market was the key to the growth.

 

The sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor market is constantly and exponentially expanding with Forxiga and Jardiance.

 

The last year’s prescription volume grew 29 percent from the year before and marked 121.4 billion won.

 

◆DPP-4 inhibitor market volume expands by 6 percent and hits 602.4 billion won According to a pharmaceutical market research firm UBIST on Jan.

 

21, total 602.4 billion won worth of DPP-4 inhibitor single and combination drugs were prescribed last year and surpassed the 600 billion won line for the first time.

 

The DPP-4 inhibiting antidiabetics became the major player in the market since the MSD’s Januvia launched in 2007 as it rose above sulfonylurea (SU) and thiazolidinedione (TZD).

 

Apparently, the drug group dominates more than half of the oral antidiabetics market.

 

And the market is ceaselessly growing.

 

In last six years, the market volume surged from 358 billion won in 2015 to 440.8 billion won in 2016, 493.4 billion won in 2017, 543.1 billion won in 2018, 568.7 billion won and 602.4 billion won in 2020 showing growth of 23 percent, 12 percent, 10 percent, 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

 

◆Januvia and Trajenta lead the market, while Zemiglo, Tenelia and Suganon leap Sorting by company, MSD and Boehringer Ingelheim are still leading the market.

 

MSD’s Januvia series (Januvia and Janumet) grew 5 percent from 168.2 billion won in 2019 to 176.2 billion won last year.

 

Boehringer Ingelheim’s Trajenta series grew by 4 percent and hit 128.9 billion won.

 

Also, the prescription volume of LG Chem’s Zemiglo series (Zemiglo, Zemimet) soared.

 

From 100.4 billion won in 2019, the volume skyrocketed to 115.8 billion won with a 15-percent jump.

 

The gap with the market’s second best-selling Trajenta series was narrowed from 58.6 billion won in 2016 to 13.1 billion won last year.

 

Besides the Zemiglo series, Handok’s Tenelia series (Tenelia, Tenelia M) and Dong-A ST’s Suganon series (Suganon, Sugamet) were prescribed significantly more last year.

 

The Tenelia series generated 42.5 billion won with a 14-percent surge, whereas the Suganon series made 24.5 billion won with a 51-percent surge.

 

On the contrary, the prescription volumes of Novartis’ Galvus series (Galvus, Galvus Met) and Takeda Pharmaceutical’s Nesina series (Nesina, Nesina Act, Nesina Met) and JW Pharmaceutical’s Guardlet series (Guardlet, Guardmet) dipped last year compared to the year before.

 

The Galvus series made 44.5 billion won, the Nesina series made 32.1 billion won and the Guardlet series made 10.3 billion won with a 4-percent, 9-percent and 27-percent drop, respectively.

 

◆SGLT-2 inhibitors broke through 100 billion won, 29 percent growth propelled by Forxiga and Jardiance The SGLT-2 inhibitor market, for the first time in the history, exceeded the 100 billion won line.

 

Since the launch of AstraZeneca’s Forxiga in 2014, Boehringer Ingelheim and MSD joined the race to drive the rapid growth in the market.

 

The market volume at 12.2 billion won in 2015 grew to 24.5 billion won in 2016, 33.3 billion won in 2017, 42.8 billion won in 2018, 53.1 billion in 2019 and 121.4 billion won in 2020, showing the growth of 131 percent, 75 percent, 40 percent, 34 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

 

The growth rate is decreasing as time passes, but it is still strong at almost 30 percent.

 

The Forxiga series (Forxiga.

 

Xigduo) and the Jardiance series (Jardiance, Jardiance Duo) are firmly leading the market.

 

Forxiga made 64.8 billion won last year, marking a 22-percent growth from 53.1 billion won in 2019.

 

In the mean time, the Jardiance series grew 40 percent from 36.6 billion won to 51.1 billion won.

 

On the other hand, MSD and Astellas are demonstrating underwhelming performances.

 

Astellas’ Suglat generated 3.3 billion won, when MSD’s Steglatro made 2.3 billion won.

 

The two drugs combined do not even take up 5 percent of the market share.

 

◆Combination drug is ‘in,’ towering over single drug growths in both DPP-4 and SGLT-2 inhibitor markets When most of the drugs combined with metformin performed notably well, the single agent drugs’ growths were sluggish or brought down.

 

The source reported the phenomenon was apparent in both DPP-4 inhibitor and SGLT-2 inhibitor markets.

 

For instance, MSD’s Januvia series saw a single agent drug Januvia’s prescription volume increasing only by 1 percent from 46.5 billion won to 47 billion won.

 

But a combination drug Janumet’s volume grew by 6 percent from 121.7 billion won to 129.1 billion won.

 

Also Trajenta single agent drug’s prescription volume showed almost no growth, whereas the combination drug grew by 8 percent from 62.4 billion won to 67.2 billion won.

 

The situations were similar with Zemiglo (5 percent) and Zemimet (21 percent), Tenelia (11 percent) and Tenelia M (16 percent), Suganon (43 percent) and Sugamet (57 percent) and Onglyza (0 percent) and Kombiglyze (4 percent).

 

Meanwhile, Guardmet and Nesinamet’s prescription volume plummeted compared to their single drugs.

 

But an external factor seems to have caused it.

 

Apparently, the manufacturing and sales of Guardmet were shut off last year due to N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), suspected as a cancerous substance, found in metformin used in the drug.

 

Nesinamet had an issue with the supply from February last year.

 

SGLT-2 inhibitor market also witnessed prominent growth by combination drugs.

 

When Forxiga’s prescription volume grew by 11 percent, a combination drug with metformin Xigduo grew by 39 percent.

 

A single agent drug Jardiance grew by 21 percent, when a combination drug Jardiance Duo skyrocketed by 117 percent.