Breakthrough anticancer Tagrisso makes KRW 29 billion

Listed for reimbursement since December 2017 as second-line treatment for lung cancer

Absorbed more than half of EGFR-TKI outpatient prescription pie, expected to grow even further

Tagrisso

AstraZeneca’s new lung cancer treatment Tagrisso has continued to top the prescription drug market.

 

After two years of reimbursement listing, the new drug has generated almost 30 billion won and expanded the overall epidermal growth factor (EGFR) targeted therapy prescription volume.

 

According to pharmaceutical product research firm UBIST on Jan.

 

23, Tagrisso’s outpatient prescription volume reached 29 billion won last year.

 

The treatment continued to lead the EGFR targeted therapy market as its outpatient prescription volume rose by 33.7 percent than the previous year at 21.7 billion won.

 

Tagrisso (osimertinib) is a third generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) developed to inhibit EGFR T790M resistance mutation.

 

The treatment was approved by Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) in May 2016 as a once-daily treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), whose T790M has been mutated after being treated with other existing EGFR-TKI options like Iressa (gefitinib), Tarceva (erlotinib), and Giotrif (afatinib).

 

In December 2018, the targeted therapy won an expanded indication as a first-line therapy on patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC and an EGFR exon 19 deletion or exon 21 L858R mutation.

 

Growth of Tragrisso outpatient prescription volume by month (Unit: KRW 1 million) Source: UBIST

In December 2017, the first month of reimbursement listing, Tagrisso made 1.7 billion won and teased its future success from early on.

 

From April 2018, its prescription volume soared as Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Olita (olmutinib) that received reimbursement on the same day as Tagrisso was suspended from development and sales, and Tagrisso became the only third generation EGFR-TKI in the market.

 

The prescription volume steeply peaked at 2.8 billion won in last July, and it has plateaued at around 2.7 billion won since then.

 

But, the overall sales volume is estimated to be even higher as its inpatient prescription is significant.

 

Due to Tagrisso’s exceptional performance, the overall EGFR targeted therapy’s outpatient prescription volume has increased up to 60.4 billion won.

 

The figure has increased by 15.6 percent from the year before, and by 41.5 percent compared to figure prior to 2017 when Tagrisso was listed for reimbursement.

 

Out of all four EGFR-TKIs, Tagrisso’s outpatient prescription takes 48.0 percent of the pie.

 

During the same period, the prescription volume of first generation EGFR targeted therapies—AstraZeneca’s Iressa and Roche’s Tarceva—has been falling.

 

Iressa’s outpatient prescription volume last year reached 17.5 billion won, or 18.3 percent less than the year before.

 

Tarceva’s volume reached 3.6 billion won with 0.4 percent decrease.

 

Boehringer Ingelheim’s second generation EGFR targeted therapy Giotrif’s outpatient prescription volume last year has doubled from the year before and made 10.3 billion won.

 

Apparently, it was the highest figure the targeted therapy has reached since its release in Korea.

 

Major EGFR targeted therapy’s outpatient prescription trend by month (Unit: KRW 1 million) Source: UBIST

The pharmaceutical industry predicts the EGFR targeted therapy prescription landscape would take a sharp turn if Tagrisso successfully expands reimbursement on to the new indication as first-line treatment for lung cancer.

 

The market experts expect that the prescription of first-line treatment for NSCLC would skyrocket, if AstraZeneca, which built a strong sales network in lung cancer for long period of time with Iressa, is to concentrate on marketing Tagrisso by differentiating it from other first and second generation drug.

 

It also means Giotrif that just surpassed the ten-billion-won line last year for the first time could bounce back down.

 

AstraZeneca is in the process of applying reimbursement on Tagrisso’s indication as first-line treatment for NSCLC patient.

 

Recently, the company has reportedly applied for reimbursement expansion to Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) based on the findings of Phase 3 clinical study FLAURA that confirmed overall survival of patients with NSCLC, who were treated with Tagrisso as a fist-line treatment.