Combination therapy dominates in DPP-4 inhibitor market

3Q accumulated outpatient prescription for DPP-4 inhibitor grows 7%

Januvia tops market share, Trajenta leads monotherapy market

While dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor products are currently leading the Korean oral diabetic treatment market, combination drugs reaffirmed its dominance over the DPP-4 market taking up two-thirds of the pie.

 

Even compared with monotherapy prescription volume, MSD’s combination drug with DDP-4 inhibitor and metformin, Janumet outdid other products.

 

On the other hand, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Trajenta topped the monotherapy market.

 

According to the pharmaceutical research frim, UBIST on Nov.

 

13, outpatient prescription sales of DPP inhibitor class diabetes treatment grew by 7.2 percent than the same time year before, reaching the total of 398.6 billion won.

 

The figure includes both monotherapy and combination therapy.

 

DPP-4 inhibitor medicine outpatient prescription sales trend (unit: KRW 1 million) Source: UBIST

Since the launch of MSD’s Januvia in 2008, total of nine DPP-4 inhibiting products have been released.

 

The products aim to treat diabetes by blocking the action of DPP-4 enzyme breaking down secreted insulin.

 

The type of medicine has the biggest pie in the oral diabetes treatment market in Korea.

 

Apparently, the medicine adequately controls the blood glucose level, while it lowers the risk of adverse events like hypoglycemia and increased body weight than any other medicine.

 

Also, there are other DDP-4 inhibitor-based combination therapies available with metformin and pioglitazone.

 

The Korean market has been heated up as six out of nine DPP-4 inhibitor products launched in the market are co-promoted by two companies.

 

◆Januvia and Janumet top market share, Tenelia and Suganon leap forward Individual sales-wise, Januvia and Janumet kept their top prescription sales in the third quarter with accumulated sales of 117.4 billion won.

 

The figure was increased by 3.0 percent than the previous year.

 

MSD and Chong Kun Dang are co-promoting Januvia products in the Korean market.

 

Trajenta and Trajenta Duo, co-promoted by Boehringer Ingelheim and Yuhan Corporation, had a 5.1 percent growth than the previous year reaching accumulated prescription sales of 87.4 billion won in the third quarter.

 

The total sales figure may be lower than Januvia, but it had a greater growth.

 

LG Chem’s Zemiglo and Zemimet accumulated prescription sales of 71.3 billion won until the third quarter, soaring 13.0 percent than last year.

 

After launching Zemiglo in 2012, LG Chem partnered with Sanofi to co-promote the product but it resigned the partnership deal with Daewoon Pharmaceutical instead in 2016.

 

Daewoong Pharmaceutical has been cumulating expertise in diabetes treatment sales for eight years since 2008 with the first DPP-4 inhibitor drug, Januvia.

 

Combined sales experience and knowledge, Daewoong Pharmaceutical has been evaluated to have led the prominent sales power of Zemiglo in recent days.

 

Tenelia and Suganon jumped into the game late but their performances so far have been notable.

 

Along with Tenelia M, Handok’s Tenelia generated accumulated outpatient prescription sales of 25.9 billion won by the end of September.

 

The figure has surged by 18.9 percent than the same time last year.

 

Dong-A ST’s Suganon and Sugamet generated 62.0 percent growth from the year before, recording 10.9 billion won this September.

 

However, Galvus and Galvus Met were a few that showed a decrease in prescription than last year among DPP-4 inhibitor medicines.

 

◆Janumet undoubtedly tops combination therapy market, Trajenta leads monotherapy Comparing DPP-4 inhibitor monotherapy and combination therapy, the combination therapy products had a steeper growth.

 

Accumulated prescription sales of DPP-4 inhibitor monotherapy were 144 billion won in the third quarter, recording 5.1 percent growth from the year before.

 

But, DPP-4 inhibitor in combination with metformin and pioglitazone generated prescription sales of 254.6 billion won, surging about 8.4 percent from last year.

 

Making a steeper growth than monotherapy, combination therapy took over 63.9 percent of the whole market share.

 

Within the DPP-4 inhibitor combination therapy market, Janumet, a combination of sitagliptin (Januvia) and metformin, dominated the market share.

 

Janumet and Janumet XR swallowed up 33.0 percent of the whole combination therapy market with accumulated prescription sales of 84.9 billion won in the third quarter.

 

Another combination therapy, Zemimet followed right behind with 46.4 billion won prescription sales, beating Trajenta Duo.

 

Meanwhile, monotherapy market showed a contrasting trend.

 

Accumulated prescription sales of Trajenta reached 43.9 billion won and topped the market share, when Januvia’s figure only reached 32.6 billion won.

 

Trajenta was ranked on the third place in the combination therapy market, but the medicine still remains strong in the monotherapy market.

 

Galvus was the fourth most selling medicine in the combination therapy market, but its rank in monotherapy market dropped to sixth after Tenelia and Nesina.