Korean biosimilars carving out Herceptin market share

Trastuzumab market climbs back up to point before Herceptin’s price reduction

Herzuma accumulated sales in 3Q reaches KRW 16.2 billion, Samfenet weakens

Inexpensive biosimilar options leverage surge in total usage volume

Korean-made biosimilars are gaining more market share in the anticancer treatment Herceptin (trastuzumab) market.

 

The biosimilars have now taken over more than 25 percent of the market share.

 

The total market size has recovered the previous level, before the original’s price fell with new launches of inexpensive biosimilars.

 

Alhtough Celltrion’s Herzuma showed a steep uptrend, Samsung Bioepis’ Safenet was sluggish with the growth.

 

According to pharmaceutical market research firm IQVIA on Dec.

 

9, the third quarter the total trastuzumab market reached 26.8 billion won.

 

It soared 24.7 percent from the same period last year.

 

Trastuzumab is a substance used for treating breast cancer and metastatic stomach cancer, and Roche’s Herceptin is the well-known brand name of the substance.

 

In Korea, Herzuma and Samfenet are two available trastuzumab biosimilars.

 

Quarterly market share trend of trastuzumab items (Unit: percentage) Source: IQVIA

In the third quarter of 2017, the trastuzumab market plummeted by 30.5 percent to 19.1 billion won, compared to 27.5 billion won made a year before.

 

But the figure climbed back up to the point of two years ago.

 

The biosimilars entering the market triggered Herceptin’s price to drop and shrunk the whole market.

 

When Celltrion’s Herzuma was listed for insurance reimbursement in April 2017, Herceptin’s maximum reimbursed price fell two months later from 517,628 won per 150 mg to 414,103 won by 20 percent in.

 

By the principles of the Korean drug pricing system, a biosimilar itemcan be priced at maximum 70 percent of the original’s initial reimbursed price.

 

From October 2016, a biosimilar item developed by a designated Innovative Pharmaceutical Company, a company passing the designation standard, or Korean and multinational companies in partnership can be priced at maximum 80 percent of the original’s price.

 

The same condition applies to items either first approved in Korea or manufactured locally.

 

The off-patent original item’s price is automatically dropped to around 70 to 80 percent of the initial price when biosimilars item is launched.

 

The recent expansion of the trastuzumab market was leveraged by biosimilars.

 

Herzuma generated 6.3 billion won in the third quarter, increasing the sales by 156.7 percent than same time last year.

 

Herzuma started making sales profit from the third quarter 2017, and it grew consistently and surpassed five billion won mark in last second quarter.

 

The accumulated sales in the third quarter reached 16.2 billion won.

 

Samfenet, on the other hand, was not performing as well as Herzuma.

 

In the third quarter, Samfenet generated about 500 million won.

 

Its sales reached 700 million won in last second quarter, but the figure is coming down again.

 

Daewoong Pharmaceutical is in charge of commercializing Samfenet at the moment.

 

Although Samfenet did not show as satisfying growth, Herzuma’s steep growth took a big bite out of the overall trastuzumab market, expanding the general biosimilars’ pie.

 

The biosimilars took over 25.7 percent of market share in the third quarter with Herzumab taking up 23.6 percent and Samfenet taking up 2.1 percent.

 

In general, a highlight of the trastuzumab market was Celltrion and Samsung Bioepis leading the general growth of the market.

 

150 mg of Herzuma was listed for reimbursement in April 2017 at the maximum reimbursed price of 372,692 won, about 72 percent of Herceptin’s price before its patent expired.

 

Samsung Bioepis’ Samfenet in 150 mg dose was granted with insurance reimbursement since February last year at the maximum reimbursed price of 291,942 won.

 

It was about 56.4 percent of Herceptin’s initial price.

 

Since then, Celltrion brought down its Herzuma’s reimbursed price by 21.7 percent to 291,942 won to match Samfenet’s price.

 

Trastuzumab’s market volume is now about the same as three years ago.

 

It could be analyzed that patients’ access has been improved and accordingly the medicine use has been increased significantly with reasonably priced biosimilars and the original’s lowered price.