Lipitor tops outpatient market again amid COVID-19

Analysis on outpatient prescription volume by items in the first quarter, Lipitor continues to lead

Tagrisso and Rosuzet show outstanding performance, off-patent drug growth ‘underwhelming’

The 2019 novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) seems to not have affected the top outpatient prescription drug rank in Korea.

 

Dyslipidemia treatment Lipitor remained on the top of the leader board with a big gap.

 

The prescription volumes of anticancer Tagrisso and cholesterol-lowering combination drug Rosuzet have also continued to skyrocket.

 

But off-patent drugs that grew significantly in volume last year, actually showed an underwhelming growth.

 

According to pharmaceutical industry research firm UBIST on Apr.

 

20, Pfizer’s dyslipidemia treatment Lipitor has made 47 billion won in the first quarter of the year, topping the outpatient prescription volume rank.

 

Although the volume was 0.2 percent lower than last year’s first quarter, it easily defended the top place with almost double the volume of runner-up Tagrisso and Gliatamine.

 

Comparison of prescription volume of major outpatient prescription drugs in first quarters of 2020 and 2019 (Source: UBIST)

Lipitor, released in the Korean market in 1999, has been prescribed the most to outpatients for two consecutive years from 2018 to 2019.

 

AstraZeneca’s anticancer treatment Tagrisso shined through in the market and ranked itself on the second place with 23.9 billion won in the quarter, surging by 18.2 percent from the previous year.

 

It was exceptional for an anticancer treatment, mostly used for inpatient, to be ranked so close to the top.

 

Tagrisso by AstraZeneca

Tagrisso is a second-line therapy prescribed to patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who have developed resistance in existing epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR TKIs), such as Iressa, Tarceva and Giotrif.

 

Overcoming the drug resistance issue, the drug has been labeled as a third-generation.

 

Tagrisso’s prescription volume has been surging since it was listed for National Health Insurance (NHI) reimbursement in December 2017.

 

The treatment’s outstanding effect, compared to other alternative options, and administrative convenience have seemingly accelerated the prescription volume growth.

 

Rosuzet by Hanmi Pharmaceutical

Skyrocketed by 27.4 percent from last year, Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Rosuzet has achieved the highest annual growth among others reaching the prescription volume of 22.8 billion won in the first quarter this year.

 

A rosuvastatin plus ezetimibe dyslipidemia-treating combination drug, Rosuzet was released to the market in late 2015.

 

After acquiring the rights over ezetimibe from the patentee MSD, Hanmi Pharmaceutical was able to enter the market faster than other competitors and it has been predominantly leading the same-substance market ever since.

 

The combination drug has made 81 billion won from prescription last year.

 

Taking the rapid growth of Rosuzet into account, the sources even project the drug could be the first Korean-made drug to surpass annual prescription volume of 100 billion won.

 

LG Chem’s combination agent diabetes drug Zemimet has made 15.6 billion won in the first quarter last year, and the volume was increased by 18.8 percent this year at 18.5 billion won.

 

Zemimet has combined Zemiglo, a new diabetic drug with DPP-4 inhibitor solely developed by LG Chem, and metformin.

 

A combination agent for dyslipidemia Atozet showed a 20.8-percent growth in prescription over a year and generated 17.9 billion won in the first quarter.

 

Released by MSD in 2015, Atozet is an atorvastatin plus ezetimibe combination drug.

 

Currently, Chong Kun Dang holds the co-sales deal signed by the multinational company.

 

In the first quarter, off-patent drugs have shown stagnant growths.

 

Boehringer Ingelheim’s hypertension treatment Twynsta has generated 23.6 billion won and made only 1.7-percent growth from the year before.

 

The prescription volume of Sanofi’s anticoagulant drug Plavix grew 1.7 percent from the year before and marked 23.6 billion won in the quarter.

 

Compared to last year, AstraZeneca’s dyslipidemia treatment Crestor and Gilead’s Viread have recorded 5.8 percent and 26.5 percent decrease in prescription volumes, respectively.

 

The prescription volumes of Eisai’s Alzheimer’s disease treatment Aricept and of Astellas’ benign prostatic hyperplasia treatment Harnal-D also had each dropped by 5.7 percent and 8.5 percent.

 

Except for Viread, these off-patented originals had a significant surge in prescription last year.

 

In 2019, Lipitor has grown 8.4 percent from the year before and generated 176.2 billion won.

 

Plavix’ prescription volume reached 88.9 billion won last year with 17.3 percent surge from the year before.

 

Some original drugs like Crestor and Arisept marked a 10-percent growth in prescription volume last year, when Harnal-D also grew by 6.5 percent.

 

However, the research firm analyzed the originals’ prescription volumes have diminished this year as the generics have performed better.

 

The industry views that the continuous spread of COVID-19 has influenced the outpatient prescription market.

 

When the multinational pharmaceutical companies preemptively stopped visiting healthcare institutes due to the outbreak, the Korean pharmaceutical companies could have persuaded the prescribers to switch to generics.