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- 2025-12-26 12:27:06
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- Novartis Korea surpassed ₩500 billion in annual sales
- by An, Kyung-Jin Apr 19, 2021 05:55am
- Novartis Korea has surpassed ₩500 billion in annual sales for the first time since entering Korea. Despite the confusion of COVID-19, representative medicines and new products generated synergy, which led to the highest sales ever. According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 15th, Novartis Korea last year recorded ₩532 billion. With a 7.8% increase in sales compared to the previous year, it achieved the most sales among multinational pharmaceutical companies that entered Korea for the second consecutive year following 2019. This is the first time Novartis Korea has exceeded the annual sales of ₩500 billion since the inauguration of Novartis Korea in 1997. Operating profit was aggregated to ₩5.3 billion, down 12.4% from the previous year. Novartis Korea Novartis Korea is a foreign-invested company established in September 1984 under a joint venture agreement between Dongwha and Swiss pharmaceutical company Sandoz (now Novartis AG). In April 1997, the company changed its name from Sandoz Korea to Novartis Korea. Novartis AG and Novartis Pharma AG own 98.3% of the shares, while Dongwha owns the remaining 1.7%. Among the bad news for Corona 19, new products that were recently released showed high growth, generating the largest sales ever. According to IQVIA, a drug market research organization, the sales of Entresto, a chronic heart failure treatment, were ₩21.7 billion last year, up 64.7% from the previous year. Entresto is a combination drug consisting of two ingredients: Valsartan, an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) family, and Sacubitril, a neprilysin inhibitor (NEPI). It is prescribed to reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and hospitalization due to heart failure for chronic heart patients with decreased left ventricular contractile function (NYHA class II-IV). In Korea, since October 2017, it has been receiving benefits as a treatment for chronic heart failure patients whose left ventricular ejection rate has decreased to 40% or less. Psoriasis treatment Cosentyx (Secukinumab) has established itself as a blockbuster product with annual sales of ₩20 billion by introducing a self-injectable pen in addition to the existing PFS. The two types of Cosentyx and Cosentyx Sensoready Pen made a joint venture of ₩20.9 billion, with a 51.5% increase in sales from the previous year. The metastatic breast cancer drug Kisqali (Ribociclib), launched at the end of last year, made the first sales of ₩1.7 billion. Existing representative products are also performing well. ARB-based hypertension combination drug Exforge (Amlodipine Besylate/Valsartan) sold ₩71.4 billion last year. Novartis has the largest sales volume among products sold in Korea. In July 2018, the impurity isuue gave a reflective profit. Macular degeneration treatment Lucentis (Ranibizumab) is also on the rise in sales with the release of PFS type. Last year's sales of Lucentis were ₩37 billion, up 23.0% from the previous year. The DPP-4 inhibitor-based diabetes combination drug Galvusmet (Metformin HCl/Vildagliptin) sold worth ₩31.5 billion last year. Glivec, a leukemia drug, posted sales of ₩41.2 billion. In the process of launching new products, expenditures increased and profitability decreased slightly, but it is evaluated that the sales of existing products and new products harmonized, resulting in stable performance. Novartis Korea is focusing on improving earnings by sorting out some items with relatively low profitability. It handed over the domestic copyright of the anti-epileptic drug Trileptal and the Alzheimer-type dementia treatment Exelon to Handok, and also stopped investing in sales marketing for the rest of the items, including the anti-epileptic drug Tegretol and Parkinson's disease treatment Stalevo and Comtan. It is expected to focus on introducing biologics known as ultra-high-priced drugs such as Zolgensma, a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), starting with Kymriah, the first licensed CAR-T treatment in Korea.
- Company
- Will ‘Keytruda’ be reviewed for reimbursement in May?
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Apr 16, 2021 06:03am
- MSD Korea threw a game-changer for the reimbursement expansion of the immunotherapy drug ‘Keytruda.’ According to industry sources, the company has once again submitted a revised cost-sharing proposal to the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) to expand the reimbursement of ‘Keytruda (pembrolizumab)’ to cover first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With the submission, the industry’s eyes are on whether the issue will put on the agenda for deliberation by the Cancer Drug Review Committee in May. If selected, this will be the 8th discussion held by the Committee for Keytruda. The decision for the drug was put on hold at the committee meeting in August last year as the committee determined that MSD Korea’s proposal lacked compromise on the company’s part. In September of the same year, HIRA handed the proposal back to MSD Korea and requested a 're-revision.' A month later, MSD Korea submitted a re-revised proposal, which was discussed by the Reimbursement Standard Sub-committee meeting but to no avail. The agenda of Keytruda’s reimbursement was not discussed by the Cancer Drug Review Committee. So, once again, MSD Korea submitted a cost-sharing plan to HIRA this year. The proposal submitted by MDS this time contains an offer equivalent to the company ‘covering the initial 3 cycles’ worth of administration cost’ through measures including adjusting the reimbursement rate. If the new cost-sharing proposal is reviewed and, again, rejected by the Cancer Drug Review Committee, expanded reimbursement for Keytruda will likely be difficult to achieve. An MSD official said, “Although we cannot share details as discussions with the government are still ongoing, we will do our best so that our patients in Korea can promptly receive the global standard-of-care treatment.” Meanwhile, MSD Korea has submitted additional applications to expand the indication of its PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) ▲ as first-line treatment in patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-h) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) advanced colorectal cancer; and ▲ as first-line treatment in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with recurrent locally advanced or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma that is not amenable to surgical resection
- Company
- Celltrion-Icure applied for permission for Donepezil patch
- by Chon, Seung-Hyun Apr 16, 2021 06:02am
- Celltrion announced on the 13th that it has applied to the MFDS for an item license for the “Donerion patch” for the treatment of Alzheimer's dementia jointly developed with Icure. Donerion patch (Donepezil) is a product jointly developed by bio-venture Icure and Celltrion. In June 2017, after Icure developed and completed the non-clinical and phase 1 clinical trials, it signed a joint domestic copyright contract with Celltrion. Together with Icure, we conducted phase 3 clinical trials in about 400 patients with mild and moderate dementia in 4 countries including Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and Malaysia. Donerion patch is an IMD developed by attaching the oral Donepezil once a day twice a week. Compared to oral drugs, it is evaluated as a product that improves medication compliance and improves convenience. Donepezil is the original medicine by Eisai's Aricept. Celltrion said, "Donepezil is currently only commercialized for oral administration due to the difficulty in formulation development. If the Donerion patch is approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, it will become the world's first Donepezil patch." Both companies are aiming to commercialize next year after acquiring an item license. The clinical phase 3 of the Donerion patch was conducted for a total of 24 weeks in patients with mild and moderate Alzheimer's dementia. Oral Donepezil or Donerion patch was administered by dividing into a group taking oral Donepezil 5 mg or 10 mg and a group who had never taken Donepezil. Donepezil for oral administration by setting the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale–Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-cog), a representative standard tool for dealing with memory, language, reconstruction, behavior, and mentality, as a primary efficacy endpoint in mild and moderate Alzheimer's Contrast the Donerion patch proved its non-inferiority. The non-inferiority of the Donerion patch compared to the oral Donepezil was also confirmed in the secondary efficacy endpoints CIBIC-plus, MMSE, CDR-SB, and NPI, which were additionally set to comprehensively evaluate the drug effect in terms of both cognitive and functional improvement. did. Donepezil is the most commonly prescribed ingredient in Alzheimer's dementia treatments. According to UBIST, a drug market research organization, Donepezil accounts for about 30 billion won, 80% of the domestic sales of Alzheimer's dementia treatments in 2020, of about 290 billion won. A Celltrion official said, "As Donerion was developed as the world's first Donepezil patch, it is expected to enter the market quickly with competitiveness differentiated from existing formulations if it obtains approval from the MFDS by improving patient convenience."
- Company
- Vyndamax tries RSA after failing essential drug designation
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Apr 15, 2021 05:56am
- Once again, attempts are in progress to receive reimbursement for 'Vyndamax,' a new drug for the treatment of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM). Industry sources said that Pfizer Korea had recently submitted an application for the reimbursement of its new ATTR-CM drug, Vyndamax (tafamidis 61mg). This time, the company conducted the PE assessment and aims to receive reimbursement through the risk-sharing agreement (RSA) scheme. After failing to receive designation as an essential drug earlier this year, the company has quickly supplemented the data to try for reimbursement once again, which shows the company’s determination to be listed for reimbursement. So once again, the industry is keenly eyeing whether Vyndamax, virtually the only ATTR-CM treatment option available in Korea, may finally list its name on the benefits list. Compared to Vyndaqel (tafamidis 20mg), which was listed in October 2018 for the treatment of the hereditary transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy (ATTR-PN) and therefore targets a very small number of patients, Vyndamax’s indication for the treatment of ATTR-CM includes patients with both hereditary and the wild-type form associated with aging and therefore has a high prevalence. So, these many patients, who have this fatal disease that has a survival period of 2 to 3.5 years without treatment, are currently left unattended as ATTR-CM is known as a disease with a poor treatment performance due to the lack of available treatment options and is commonly mistaken for simple heart failure. However, the efficacy of Vyndamax was demonstrated through the Phase III ATTR-ACT study by reducing the number of cardiovascular events in patients and improving functional athletic ability in the six-minute walk test. Based on the findings, healthcare professionals in Korea are stressing the need to prescribe Vyndamex. As it is a fairly expensive drug, the determination and will of the government and the pharmaceutical company may play a crucial role in the listing. As Pfizer showed the effort to conduct the PE assessment despite its difficult situation demonstrating the drug’s cost-effectiveness, expectations are rising that the two sides will be able to reach an agreement. In the ATTR-ACT study, 441 patients were randomly assigned in a 2:1:2 ratio to receive 80 mg of tafamidis, 20 mg of tafamidis, or placebo. The primary endpoint of the study was hierarchically assessed all-cause mortality, followed by frequency of cardiovascular-related hospitalizations. The secondary endpoint of the study was a change in the 6-minute walk test from baseline to month 30 and the score on the 'Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-Overall Summary (KCCQ-OS),' in which higher scores indicate better health status. Study results showed that all-cause mortality and cardiovascular-related hospitalizations rates were statistically significantly lower in patients who received tafamidis than those who received placebo.
- Company
- Measures for the reimbursement of advanced therapies
- by Apr 15, 2021 05:56am
- The release of the CAR-T treatment ‘Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel)’ in Korea was met with both anticipation and concerns. The drug itself is undeniably an innovative drug that can offer new opportunities to blood cancer patients with short life expectancy. However, the challenge lies in how this innovative new drug that costs 500 million won per dose should be listed for reimbursement in Korea’s healthcare system. Clearly, these advanced drugs cannot be evaluated under the same standards as existing drugs. The development trend of new drugs has already shifted towards the treatment of severe or rare diseases, and gene and cell therapies that combine new science and technology occupy a large proportion of development. Therefore, a new model that may reasonably evaluate the price of ultra-expensive drugs is necessary to accommodate the changing environment. Then, what limitations and changes has the industry seen and desired in Korea’s reimbursement environment? To hear the voices in the field, Dailypharm held its 41st Pharmaceutical Industry Future Forum, "Finding the correct solution for the ultra-expensive drug listing system," at its Moonjeong-dong office. Dr. Hyung-Ki Lee, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Seoul National University Hospital, chaired the event. Also, various industry and government officials including Kyung-Ho Choi, Deputy Director of the Division of Pharmaceutical Benefits at the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Min-Young Kim, Director at Korean Research-based Pharma Industry Association (KRPIA); Hyeon-Seok Na, Senior Manager at JW Pharmaceutical Corp.; and Jae-Ho Jeong, Department Head at Novartis Korea attended the event to share their views on the matter. (from the left) Dr. Hyung-Ki Lee, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Seoul National University Hospital; Kyung-Ho Choi, Deputy Director of the Division of Pharmaceutical Benefits at the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Min-Young Kim, Director at Korean Research-based Pharma Industry Association (KRPIA); Hyeon-Seok Na, Senior Manager at JW Pharmaceutical Corp.; and Jae-Ho Jeong, Department Head at Novartis Korea attended Dailypharm’s 42nd Future Forum. ◆'Advanced therapies that cost hundreds of millions of won may deliver value beyond their cost = Kymriah was tagged as an ‘ultra-expensive' drug as its single injection costs 500 million won. However, Jae-Ho Jeong, Department Head at Novartis Korea, expressed his opposition to the view. Unlike conventional drugs that should be taken annually or on a regular cycle, one can expect a full cure with a single injection of Kymriah, which ultimately would reduce the total cost invested in treatment. “We need to consider whether Kymriah is really an ultra-expensive drug from the financial aspect,“ said Department Head Jae-Ho Jeong. “Other orphan drugs that cost 400–500 million won per year are also listed as reimbursement. The only difference is, with Kymriah, one can expect to reach complete remission with a single injection.” He added, “The value of Kymriah lies in that it can provide the return to daily lives for patients who were non-responsive to existing treatments and therefore left with only several months of to live at most. We need to reconsider drawing the line just because a drug is expensive.” In fact, Kymriah achieved complete remission (CR) in 82% of the young adult and pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pALL) within 3 months of its administration. The patients were relapsed and refractory patients with a life expectancy of only 6 months. Emily, a pediatric patient who participated in the first trial of Kymriah, is currently living a normal life after receiving Kymriah 9 years ago. Like Kymriah, advanced therapies such as CAR-T cell therapies and gene replacement therapies allow patients to dream of the long-awaited ‘cure.’ ‘Zolgensma,’ a gene replacement therapy, can cure the rare disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) with a single dose. ◆The need for a personalized reimbursement system = Rather than introducing a completely new system, industry experts have suggested implementing measures that may allow for more flexible use of the existing system, in other words, a personalized reimbursement system. KRPIA director Min-Young Kim referred to the U.K. as an example. For rare diseases that are chronic, severely disabling, and require life-long treatment, the U.K.’s Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) evaluation system weighs the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gain and allows a QALY index of 3 if the gain is 30 QALY or more. Also, the Patient Access Scheme (PAS) and Confidential Commercial Arrangement (CCA) implements a kind of risk-sharing system for drugs that have not been able to receive an ultimate value judgment from NICE or drugs with a large difference in ICER due to different health benefits per drug or indication. Also, a Cancer Drug Fund (CDF) system provides funding for oncology drugs that are not recommended by NICE for reasons of clinical uncertainty during the drug's data collection period “Like the U.K., Korea also needs segmentized, personalized policies so as to provide the opportunity for a full cure to patients with severe rare and incurable diseases,” said Kim. He continued, “In terms of patient accessibility, we may consider using systems like the ‘pre-listing post-evaluation' system. Financial uncertainty can be resolved by collecting information on the use amount based on real-world data during the pre-listed period, and then evaluating once the period is over. Also, customized systems that price drugs by indication or the trade-off system may also be used.”
- Company
- “The framework to list ultra-expensive new drugs exists"
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Apr 14, 2021 06:07am
- We are living in an era where a single injection may completely cure cancer. The catch is that the 'single dose' would cost 500 million won. Such ultra-expensive advanced new drugs are not an item of our dreams – it is already within our reach. In addition to the CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells) therapy Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) that was approved in Korea, dozens of other gene therapy and cell therapy candidate drugs are also under development, some of which are being developed by domestic biopharmaceutical companies. The regulatory authorities have also passed the ‘Act on Safety and Support for Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Biopharmaceuticals’ in 2019 to reflect the changes in the new era. However, for these paradigm-shifting advanced medicines that overturn the existing concept of drug therapy to be used in real life, the lingering issue of their ultra-high ‘drug price’ needs to be resolved. How should the company that wants rightful compensation for the innovation, and the government that needs to take care of the public’s health with a limited budget, reach a consensus on the matter? Professor Hyung Ki Lee, SNUH In search of the answer, government and industry officials gathered at the 41st Pharmaceutical Industry Future Forum, "Finding the correct solution for the ultra-expensive drug listing system," held by Dailypharm at its Moonjeong-dong office. Dr. Hyung-Ki Lee, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Seoul National University Hospital, chaired the event. Various industry and government officials including Kyung-Ho Choi, Deputy Director of the Division of Pharmaceutical Benefits at the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Min-Young Kim, Director at Korean Research-based Pharma Industry Association (KRPIA); Hyeon-Seok Na, Senior Manager at JW Pharmaceutical Corp.; and Jae-Ho Jeong, Department Head at Novartis Korea participated as panelists for discussion. ◆ Now is the time to fully implement the Pre-listing Post-evaluation system = The key to pre-listing and post-evaluation is ‘speed.’ The system allows drugs to skip the deliberation on the appropriateness of reimbursement and be listed first, then decide whether to continue its reimbursement by evaluating the efficacy, use amount, etc. based on real-world data. The system would speed up the listing process, however, it may also cloud the transparency of the process. People are voicing concerns about whether the cancellation mechanism of already-listed drugs would definitely work, and whether the patients will be able to accept the reimbursement discontinuation of drugs they have been taking. There also lies the controversy over the method of accumulating RWD or RWE data and its and reliability. Officer Kyungho Choi, MOHW At the event, Deputy Director Choi said, “The ‘continuity of care’ issue of pre-listing post-evaluation drugs cannot be ignored from the government’s perspective. There are problems such as difficulties in adjusting drug prices when the pharmaceutical companies do not accept the evaluation results, as well as the issue of the system weakening the drug negotiation power of NHIS.” However, the industry had a strong aspiration to implement the system as a means to ‘introduce ultra-expensive drugs to Korea.’ Of the three industry panelists that participated in the forum, KRPIA director Min-Young Kim, and Novartis's Departement Head Jae-Ho Jeong pointed to the pre-listing post-evaluation system as the top priority solution. Kim explained, “The system can be well-managed. We already have had experienced similar cases like ‘Evoltra,’ the first therapy to be listed under the Risk Sharing Agreement (RSA). The government was unable to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Evoltra at the time of its listing, and the drug was listed under conditional coverage with evidence development. After 4 years, the company underwent data collection and a re-evaluation process maintains its reimbursement.” “The pre-listing post-evaluation system needs to be accepted as a type of RSA. The industry has long conducted negotiations and signed agreements with HIRA and NHIS for the stable supply of its products," added Jeong. "The government should show some trust based on its accumulated experience with the companies. The potential risks and countermeasures can be discussed while conducting a pilot project.” Executive Director Minyoung Kim, KRPIA The government has consistently maintained a conservative attitude on implementing the pre-listing post-evaluation system. However, at the forum, MOHW did not rule out the possibility of implementing such a system. Deputy Director Choi said, “I agree that now is the time to seriously consider the implementation of such systems. If the industry proposes a detailed action plan, we will review the plan with HIRA and NHIS. However, one thing that I hope the industry also bears in mind is that the continuity of care is not an issue that impacts the listing or delisting of a single drug product; It is an issue that needs to be considered collectively for the sustainability of NHI finances.” ◆ Considerations on ‘cost-effectiveness,’ the first criteria considered in drug evaluations = Cost-effectiveness is central to Korea’s reimbursement listing system. Industry officials agree that is an essential criterion for the system while pointing out that too much stress is being laid solely on cost-effectiveness. In addition to cost-effectiveness, the Principles on Determining Eligibility of Long-term Care Benefits list factors such as medical significance (clinical utility) and social benefits as factors for consideration. However, industry officials say that these other factors are not sufficiently reflected during reimbursement evaluations. At the forum, Director Hyeon-seok Na from JW Pharmaceutical Corp. said, “The industry does feel that the government is too focused on cost-effectiveness. Such focus on cost-effectiveness would lead so many drugs to be not approved for reimbursement listing. We hope that the weight of other factors such as social benefit should be increased” Senor Manager Hyeon-seok Na, JW Pharm. Professor Hyung-Ki Lee who chaired the event added, “This reminds me of a paper published by HIRA. It was a 2006 study that tracked the standards used by HIRA in deciding reimbursement for drugs. Results showed that drugs that had lower prices were listed and at a faster rate than those with high clinical utility.” Cost-effectiveness is a staple topic in the discussion of improving the domestic drug reimbursement system. The difficulty in demonstrating cost-effectiveness leads to requests for improving the ICER threshold and the exemption of PE assessment. On this, the government’s response is that considerations of cost-effectiveness are just a matter of order. “The government does not solely focus on cost-effectiveness in the reimbursement decision-making process. For a drug to receive reimbursement, it first needs to prove its clinical utility,” said Choi. ”Only drugs that are determined to be clinically effective are then evaluated for their cost-effectiveness. The strict evaluation criteria may be worth discussing; however, it does not mean that we have had made no efforts to resolve the issue.”
- Company
- Generic for Eliquis, stop selling after supreme court loss
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Apr 14, 2021 06:07am
- Eliquis (Apixaban)’s generic companies stop selling one after another. This is a strategy after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the original company BMS in the Eliquis patent dispute. This is a measure to reduce the risk even a little in preparation for future lawsuits for claiming damages. According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 13th, Chong Kun Dang, Yuhan Corporation, Samjin Pharm, and Hanmi Pharm, which are selling Eliquis generics, have either stopped or stopped selling the product. An official from a company selling generics said, "We have already stopped selling them." An official from another pharmaceutical company also said, "We are actively considering a plan to stop the sale." Another pharmaceutical company official, whose sales performance of generics is not large, said, "We will follow the choices of other companies." The reason they stop selling is because of the burden of a lawsuit for damages in the future. Claims for damages are proportional to product sales. This is because the more sales, the more compensation. In preparation for this, the sale is stopped in an effort to reduce the amount of compensation even a penny. BMS officially announced a claim for damages immediately after the Supreme Court ruling. Korea BMS Pharmaceutical CEO Kim Jin-young said, "As the validity of the Eliquis patent has been confirmed, we will take all possible legal actions, including claims for damages, for any act that infringes on the patent." ◆"The amount of damages will be less than the actual sales. Fierce legal disputes expected" In the pharmaceutical industry and the legal community, damage compensation is expected to be calculated less than the actual sales of generic products. According to the drug market research institute UBIST, the cumulative combined prescription amount of generic items is a little less than 10 billion won as of the end of last year. Since its launch in July 2019, it has been prescribed 1.2 billion won that year and 8.3 billion won last year. By item, Chong Kun Dang Liquisia 3 billion won, Samjin Pharmaceutical Elxaban 1.8 billion won, Yuhan Apixaban 1.3 billion won, etc. Typically, the amount of damages due to patent infringement is determined from operating profits, not from sales of the generics. This is because the'profit' obtained as a result of patent infringement is calculated as the amount of compensation. However, it goes through a very complicated calculation process as to how much the actual profit will be viewed. For example, raw material prices are generally excluded from damages. If the generic had not been released, the raw material would not have been bought, so it is subtracted from the damages. An official in the legal profession said, "Other items are added or subtracted from the calculation of damages," and "Another legal dispute between BMS trying to receive even a penny more in relation to the calculation of damages and a generic company trying to reduce even a little will develop very fiercely." . Generic companies are also preparing for destruction and repatriation along with the suspension of sales. This is because the legal battle has not yet ended. Earlier, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the Patent Court while making a decision on the side of BMS. In general, the remand of revocation is based on the judgment of the superior judge. However, if a new allegation is raised at the remand of revocation trial, the opposite decision may be made. Accordingly, generic companies are looking for new logic to deny Eliquis' material patent.
- Company
- Geo-Young is interested in distributing botulinum products
- by Nho, Byung Chul Apr 14, 2021 06:06am
- Geo-Young and Zuellig entered the competition for the storage and distribution of Xeomin of Multz, Germany, which is the best importer of botulinum toxin products. According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 9th, Multz is conducting a competitive bidding ahead of the expiration of the contract with Zuellig, an existing Xeomin storage and distribution company, in December of this year. Xeomin's bidding is highly likely to serve as a business expansion for Geo-Young and Zuellig. Zuellig has been in charge of botulinum toxin formulations, a multinational pharmaceutical company. Geo-Young also has experience in supplying small quantities of botulinum toxins to general hospitals, but the maintenance of various systems according to the expansion of the nationwide network is a task that cannot be overlooked. This is the reason Geo-Young is making great efforts in this bid because it is highly likely to have a significant impact on the expansion of distribution rights for vaccines and biological products, including other botulinum toxin products, depending on how high the rating is received in the construction of the Xeomin storage and delivery system. An industry insider said, "Zuellig has an edge in terms of botulinum toxin distribution know-how, experience and network. However, Multz has the potential to give additional points to Geo-Young, which has a lower distribution cost compared to competitors." The storage temperature of the botulinum toxin formulation is between 2 and 8 °C, so it is important to secure a cold chain from manufacturing to distribution warehouse, hospital delivery, and final treatment stage. There are five distribution warehouses with Geo-Young's refrigeration system: Incheon Logistics Center, Gimpo West Logistics Center, Uijeongbu North Center, Seoul Gangbuk Center, and Gyeonggi Gunpo Center. Geo-Young plans to establish a new vaccine business headquarters in August, which will be in charge of marketing of biological products such as botulinum toxin, vaccine and biopharmaceuticals. The estimated number of personnel in the organization is about 30 to 40 people. Geo-Young official said, "It has not been confirmed whether Xeomin products will only be in charge of refrigeration or distribution. Zuellig has also participated in this bidding. The final contract will be decided in a month. In addition, the establishment of the vaccine division is also in the review stage, and it is not a final issue.” The earnings of Xeomin and Xeomin 50 in 2018 and 2019 are totaled at 4 billion, 600 million, and 5.6 billion and 100 million, respectively. Xeomin is the first product to remove complex proteins, and since its launch in Germany in 2005, it has been approved for safety through US FDA approval, EMA, and the MFDS, and is used in 65 countries around the world. In 2009, Han Wha signed a contract with Multz and made plans to enter the'Botox' market, such as working on an agency to acquire Xeomin's domestic license, but it is known that with the establishment of Multz Korea in 2011, it is known that when Multz Korea was established in 2011, it is known that the license rights have been renounced. Meanwhile, imported finished botulinum toxin items include Allergan's 50 units of Botox, Botox, and Ipsen's Dysport.
- Company
- MNC employees earn ₩91 million on average
- by An, Kyung-Jin Apr 13, 2021 05:19pm
- GSK Consumer Healthcare Korea employees received on average a salary of 150 million won last year. Employees at GSK Korea, Boehringer Ingelheim Korea, Sanofi Pasteur, Viatris Korea, Kyowa Kirin Korea, Galderma Korea, Pfizer Korea, and Abbvie Korea also received an average salary of over 100 million won. According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 13th, employees and executives working at 24 Korean subsidiaries of multinational pharmaceutical companies had earned 91 million won on average last year. The amount is based on the salary of 471,742 executives and employees at 24 Korean subsidiaries of multinational pharmaceutical companies that submitted audit reports to the Financial Supervisory Service by April 12th. The average salary per person was calculated by dividing the total salary paid by the number of employees and executives listed in the audit report. Only the salary item in the selling and administrative expenses (SG&A) of the audit report was counted, and other items including the welfare benefits, bonuses, performance-related pay, and retirement allowances were excluded from the calculation. However, the amount may differ somewhat from the actual net pay received by employees depending on the description method of labor cost in each company. GSK Consumer Healthcare Korea paid a total of 12.861 billion won in employee wages last year. The number of executives and employees working at GSK Consumer Healthcare Korea as of last year was 87. As the number of executives and employees stayed the same while the total salary increased by 30.7% from the previous year, the average salary per employee rose by nearly 35 million won. GSK Consumer Healthcare Korea also paid nearly 20 billion won to its retired employees last year. Among the SG&A items, expenses listed as retirement allowance were 1.59 billion won, and 17.31 billion won was retirement bonuses. However, as the number of employees was the same as the previous year, it is difficult to determine the specific number of resignations. GSK Korea, which had kept its position as the top-paid multinational pharmaceutical company based on annual salary until 2019, ranked second place this year by a narrow margin. GSK paid 61.64 billion won in salaries last year, a 3.1% increase from the previous year. The number of executives and employees working at GSK as of last year was 434. With 7 less employees than the year before, the average salary of its people rose by 4.6%. However, as the increase rate fell short of the rate of GSK Consumer Healthcare Korea’s, GSK Korea’s rank fell one level. Boehringer Ingelheim Korea’s average salary rose by 27.4% per employee, which was the second-highest rate of increase after GSK Consumer Health Korea. Boehringer Ingelheim Korea paid 21.26 billion won in salaries last year. The company ranked 3rd place with an average salary of 133 million won, a 28 million won increase from the previous year. Sanofi Pasteur executives and employees received 129 million won on average as annual salary last year. As its number of employees decreased from 61 in 2019 to 53 at the end of 2020 while its total salary increased by 11.1%, the average salary per person rose 27.9% from the previous year. Also, companies including Viatris Korea (126 million won), Kyowa Kirin Korea (118 million won), Galderma Korea (103 million won), Pfizer Korea (102 million won), and Abbvie Korea (100 million won) also had an annual salary that exceeds 100 million won. Among the 24 companies surveyed, 9 companies had an average salary of over 100 million won, and 17 companies had an average salary of over 80 million won. The net pay that the executives and employees actually received may be higher depending on their individual performance. In the audit report, Sanofi-Aventis Korea had stated that it had paid bonuses and wages (2.8 billion won) and performance-based pay (3.3 billion won) in addition to the 47.8 billion won as labor costs. Sanofi Pasteur also listed bonuses and wages (0.4 billion won) and performance-based pay (0.8 billion won) separately from salaries. Amgen Korea had also paid 3.2 billion won as bonuses apart from the 13.8 billion won paid as salaries. In companies that have local manufacturing facilities such as Korea Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Janssen Korea, the actual net pay received by employees was found to be much different from the average salary listed in the audit. As these companies list wages of factory employees as production cost and the salary of clinical team employees and R&D cost., the method dividing the salary listed on SG&A by the number of employees could not accurately reflect the net pay received by their employees. As of last year, the average pay received by executives and employees of multinational pharmaceutical companies far exceeded the amount received by those at listed companies in Korea. Last year, the average salary of 30 KOSPI and KOSDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical companies were 70.4 million won. The amount is an average of the total salary of 2.43 trillion won that was paid to 34,323 employees and internal directors in the 30 companies. Simply calculated without considering the continuous years of service or position of the employees, the average salary per person in domestic pharmaceutical companies is lower by 20 million won. 24 companies - GSK Consumer Healthcare Korea, GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer Ingelheim Korea, Sanofi Pasteur, Viatris Korea, Kyowa Kirin Korea, Galderma Korea, Pfizer Korea, AbbVie Korea, Lundbeck Korea, Sanofi-Aventis Korea, Amgen Korea, UCB Korea, Bayer Korea, Servier Korea, Lilly Korea, AstraZeneca Korea, Baxter Korea, Guerbet Korea, Novo Nordisk, Menarini Korea, Teva-Handok, Korea Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Janssen Korea - were included in the survey. Among the 25 Korean subsidiaries of multinational pharmaceutical companies that submitted an audit report by April 12th, Janssen Vaccine was excluded as it had minimized its operation of production facilities as well as operating personnel until the production line around its anticancer drugs and next-generation vaccines is reorganized.
- Company
- Lilly spent ₩9.7 billion in severance pay last year
- by An, Kyung-Jin Apr 13, 2021 05:46am
- Lilly Korea spent nearly ₩10 billion last year as employee severance pay. At the end of last year, the Hope Retirement Program (ERP) was launched for all employees of the sales department, and the amount of severance pay has jumped more than five times from the previous year. According to Lilly Korea's audit report submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 10th, the company recognized ₩9.4 billion last year as retirement benefits. It is 5.4 times more than the ₩1.8 billion recorded in the previous year's retirement benefit. Lilly Korea has submitted an audit report for 15 years since 2006. The retirement benefits stated in the audit report submitted in 2006 amounted to ₩1.6 billion in 2004 and ₩1.8 billion in 2005. It is estimated that the reorganization carried out at the headquarters level last year had an effect. Eli Lilly headquarters last year reorganized with the aim of strengthening non-face-to-face sales activities such as digital programs and promoting productivity and efficiency within the organization. In November, the Korean subsidiary also operated ERP for 100 salespeople, including non-core fields. At that time, Lilly Korea was reported to have offered annual consolation benefits in addition to salary for years of service x 2 months + 8 months as ERP compensation. As of the end of last year, Eli Lilly had 232 employees. Actually, the number of employees who have completed the resignation procedure through ERP is not confirmed. However, compared to the 347 employees reported in 2005, the number of employees decreased by 115 in 15 years. The company has implemented ERP four times since 2014. Lilly Korea's sales last year were ₩162.8 billion, up 2.6% from the previous year. Compared to ₩113.9 billion in 2005, the scale of sales increased by 42.9% in 15 years. Operating profit was ₩10.3 billion and net profit rose 2.3% and 19.9% respectively to ₩9.5 billion.
