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- 2026-05-13 23:38:33
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- Will the premium vaccine market rebound?
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Oct 11, 2022 05:50am
- Whether the premium vaccine market, which consists of vaccines used to prevent diseases like shingles, pneumococcal vaccines, etc., will be able to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and make a rebound is gaining attention. Expectations of market recovery are rising in the pharma and bio-industry with the eased resurgence of COVID-19, cautious expectations on the nearing end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential new product releases being in the two vaccine areas. ◆Shingrix expected to be released at the end of the year...Will the contracted market rebound after COVID-19 According to industry sources on the 8th, GSK and GC Pharma plan to jointly promote the sales of the new shingles vaccine, Shingrix. Shingrix is a vaccine that prevents shingles in immunocompetent adults 50 years and older, and adults 18 years and older who are or will be immunocompromised. GSK received approval for the drug from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in September last year. Although the company had originally planned to release the drug in February this year, the schedule was delayed. Currently, two products - MSD's ‘Zostavax’ and SK Bioscience's ‘SKYZoster’ – are competing in the domestic shingles vaccine market. MSD The market had greatly contracted with the prolonged COVID-19 crisis. The continued prioritization of COVID-19 vaccines resulted in a relative neglect of other vaccine products. According to the medical research institution IQVIA, the domestic shingles vaccine market, was KRW 89.9 billion in 2019, a 3% increase from that in 2018. However, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, the market size shrunk for two consecutive years to KRW 72.3 billion in 2020 and KRW 45.1 billion in 2021. Compared to 2019, right before the COVID-19 crisis, the market shrunk to nearly half in two years. ◆Applying NIP to shingles vaccine under review... expectations rise for market expansion The pharmaceutical industry predicts that the market will normalize after next year after the COVID-19 crisis starts settling down. In particular, as the Suk-Yeol Yoon administration is reviewing including the shingles vaccine in the National Immunization Program (NIP), some are projecting that the market will further expand, even to a greater extent than before the COVID-19 crisis. During the elections, President Suk-Yeol Yoon who had been a candidate then had pledged to apply NIP to shingles vaccines. Quarterly sales of shingles vaccines in Korea(Unit: KRW 0.1 billion, IQVIA) The key point of the issue is how much influence the third shingles vaccine will exert in the market. By vaccine effect, Shingrix has a higher prevention rate than the existing two products. The prevention effect of Shingrix, which is indicated for adults aged 50 years and older were found to be 97% at 3.2 years after vaccination in the ZOE-50 clinical trial. Its competitor, Zostavax has shown a 51% preventive effect in adults aged 50 years or older and a 41% effect in adults aged 70 years or older. SKYZoster has demonstrated non-inferiority to Zostavax in a clinical trial. By prevention rate, the vaccine has no significant difference from Zostavax. However, its price is expected to be higher than that of existing vaccines due to its excellent preventive effect. Currently, the price of Zostavax is in the middle KRW 100,000 range, and SKYZoster is in the lower KRW 100,000 range. If the price tag of Shingrix is set too high, it may not enjoy a performance up to expectations in the market. At the same time, this will also act as a barrier to its entry into NIP. How well the two existing products will maintain their share of the market also remains to be seen. Currently, SKYZoster had been chasing Zostavax’s sales. SKYZoster’s shares in the market had been rising since it was released in Q4 2017. Shares of SKYZoster, which had been 35% in Q1 2018, rose 8%p and 43% in 4 years since Q1 this year. ◆MSD·Pfizer to introduce next-generation pneumococcal vaccines in Korea in full-scale New products are also soon to enter the pneumococcal vaccine market as well. Pfizer received marketing authorization for ‘Prevenar 20’ in the US in June last year. Prevenar 20 is an upgraded version of its existing product, ‘Prevenar 13.’ Prevenar 13 prevents 13 serotypes, and Prevenar 20 prevents 20 serotypes. MSD has also developed a next-generation pneumococcal vaccine. MSD received approval for its ‘Vaxneuvance’ from the US FDA in July last year. Vaxneuvance prevents 15 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Although its scope of prevention is narrower than that of the existing vaccine 'Prodiax23', it has excellent preventive effects in that it is a conjugate vaccine, not a polysaccharide-based vaccine. The industry expects the two vaccines to be introduced to Korea after next year. MSD Korea submitted a market authorization application for Vaxneuvance in March of this year. Pfizer Korea is expected to apply for market authorization for Prevenar 20. An East Asian clinical trial with a total of 1,400 patients including 500 Korean patients are currently underway for Prevenar 20.
- Company
- Emergency Contraception (EC) monopolized by Hyundai
- by Oct 11, 2022 05:50am
- As generics enter the Emergency Contraception (EC) market, which is dominated by Hyundai Pharmaceutical, a maximum of five-way race is expected. Generics that avoided patents led by GL Pharma predicted full-scale sales this month. According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 8th, Arlico Pharmaceutical, The U, GL Pharma, and Kwangdong Pharmaceutical will release EC containing Ulipristal ingredients this month. They obtained an item license from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in June last month. All are generics of Hyundai Pharmaceutical's Ellaone, and GL Pharma is in charge of producing all four products. GL Pharma was the first to obtain generic for Ellaone and then recruited companies to launch the generic together. In the process, the U, Arlico, and Kwangdong joined. GL Pharma filed a passive judgment in December last year on Ellaone's patent for Ulipristal after successfully developing a formulation that avoided the scope of Ellaone's patent. When the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal cited the plaintiff's claim on September 14, not only GL Pharma but also three pharmaceutical companies that participated in the consignment secured generic for exclusion. Ellaone is an original ingredient of Ulipristal and was developed by French pharmaceutical company Laboratoire HRA Pharma and introduced by Hyundai Pharmaceutical in Korea. It currently generates the largest sales in the oral contraceptive market. Last year's sales amounted to 3.3 billion won. Norebwon (Levonorgestrel), is following with 2.2 billion won. The Emergency Contraception (EC)) market is largely divided into two active ingredients: Levonorgestrel and Ulipristal. Among the Levonorgestrel ingredient emergency contraception (EC) market, Hyundai Pharmaceutical exclusively occupied the Ulipristal ingredient. Hyundai Pharmaceutical's Ellaone patent expires in 2029. However, as GL Pharma succeeded in avoiding the scope of Ellaone patents last month, it advanced the release of generics by about seven years. From the fourth quarter of this year, GL Pharma is expected to be the biggest beneficiary when the Ulipristal market enters the generic competition system. GL Pharma is a pharmaceutical company specializing in sex hormone drugs and has been researching, producing, and supplying various contraceptives and sex hormone drugs over the past four years.
- Company
- The second CGRP migraine drug Ajovy's benefit is listed
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Oct 11, 2022 05:50am
- According to related industries, Handok Teva has begun negotiations with the HIRA on the drug price of Ajovy, a target migraine treatment for Calcitoningenene-related peptide (CGRP). Ajovy passed the HIRA Drug Benefit Evaluation Committee last month. Ajovy's drug price is expected to be negotiated as its competitive drug and first item, Emgality, was applied in September. If Ajovy succeeds in registering, competition for the prescription of the two drugs is expected to begin in earnest. Emgality and Ajovy are the same category of drugs, but there are differences in dosage, so they are being selected according to the characteristics of severe migraine patients. Emgality is administered 240 mg (two consecutive subcutaneous injections each of 120 mg) once at a loading dose, and then subcutaneous injections of 120 mg once a month. Ajovy 225 mg is used once a month or 675 mg (three consecutive times of 225 mg) is injected subcutaneously once every three months. Ajovy proved its validity through a 12-week HALO EM/CM clinical trial in 2,000 EM and CM patients. In a HALOEM study conducted to verify the efficacy and safety of Ajovy compared to the placebo group, Ajovy was evaluated to meet the primary evaluation variable by significantly reducing the number of monthly migraine occurrences in both monthly and quarterly administration groups. The proportion of patients whose average monthly migraine days decreased by more than 50% was also higher in the Ajovy monthly administration group and 44.4% in the quarterly administration group compared to 27.9% in the placebo group. In the HALOCM study, the average number of monthly headache reduction days in the Ajovy administration group was 4.6±0.3 days, and the quarterly administration group was 4.3±03 days, which was significantly reduced compared to 2.5±0.3 days in the placebo group.
- Company
- Only 2 out of 10 are prescribed monotherapy for diabetes
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Oct 07, 2022 06:04am
- The use of combination therapies in diabetes has been increasing further. Already, 8 of 10 patients are prescribed two or more drugs at once. In particular, the triple therapy combination regimen seems to be rapidly establishing its presence in the field. By ingredient, DPP-4 inhibitor class drugs are still showing strength, but their growth is gradually slowing down. On the other hand, SGLT-2 inhibitor class drugs are gaining influence, while sulfonylurea class drugs are on a steady decline. ◆From dual to triple therapies…the diabetes treatment paradigm is shifting The Korean Diabetes Association published a ‘2022 Diabetes Fact Sheet’ that contained the information above. Based on the national health insurance claims data, the Fact Sheet contains the prevalence, treatment rate, and drug prescription rate of diabetes in Korea from the year 2002 to 2019. Present status of Oral Hypoglycemic Agent combination therapies (Data: 2022 KDA Diabetes Fact Sheet) According to the data, the prescription rate of monotherapy in diabetes was 22.2% in 2019. 2 in 10 diabetes patients have been prescribed a single drug for their condition. The other 77.8% are receiving two or more drugs at once. The rate of combination therapy prescriptions had risen 5.4%p in 5 years from the 73.4% in 2014. In particular, the prescription rate of three-or-more drug combinations is on the rise. The three-or-more drug combination therapies that had been prescribed in only 31.9% of all cases until 2014, had risen 6.1%p in 5 years to 38.0%. In the same period, prescription of dual combination therapies had decreased by 1.7%p from 41.5% to 39.8%. Prescription of monotherapies had fallen 4.4%p in 5 years from the 26.6%. The gap between prescription of dual and triple combination therapies had been 9.6%p in 2014, which had been reduced to 1.8% in 5 years. The industry has been interpreting this as a shift in the diabetes treatment paradigm, of how the diabetes treatment paradigm is moving from dual combination therapies to triple combination therapies. This phenomenon is also reflected in the number of drugs that are initially prescribed after being diagnosed with diabetes. First drug prescription for diabetes after diagnosis (Data: 2022 KDA Diabetes Fact Sheet) In 2009, 66.7% of the patients first diagnosed with diabetes were prescribed monotherapy. The prescription rate of dual combination therapies had been 30.6%, and triple combination therapies 2.7%. In 2019, the prescription rate of monotherapies in those first diagnosed with diabetes had become 58.9%, a 7.8%p decrease in 10 years. On the other hand, the prescription rate of dual combination therapies had increased 4.9%p to 35.5%, and triple combination therapies 2.9%p to 5.6%. ◆Sales of metformin and DPP-4i surge... sulfonylurea sales fall, SGLT-2i rise By ingredient, metformin and DPP-4 inhibitor class drugs are still the most popular. As of 2019, 87.5% of all diabetes patients were prescribed metformin, followed by 63.9% receiving DPP-4 inhibitor class drugs, 41.7% sulfonylurea (SU), 11.6% TZD class, 10.8% SGLT-2 inhibitor class, 8.4% insulin (duplicate prescriptions reflected in the statistics). Compared to 5 years ago in 2014, the prescription rate of metformin increased by 2.1%p from 85.4% to 87.5%. In the case of DPP-4 inhibitors, prescriptions increased by 18.5%p from 45.4% to 63.9% in the same period. After it was first introduced in 2008, the prescription of DPP-4 inhibitors increased rapidly to reach 59.1% in 2016. However, since then, its growth slowed to 61.8% in 2017, 63.4% in 2018, and 63.9% in 2019. Analysis of prescription patterns by diabetes drug ingredient (Data: 2022 KDA Diabetes Fact Sheet) In the case of sulfonylurea, sales are on a constant decline. Although it had been the most-prescribed drug until 2009, the prescription rate of sulfonylurea started to slow down with the introduction of DPP-4 inhibitors. Due to this the prescription rate of sulfonylurea class drugs, which had reached 75.8% in 2009, fell to 51.2% in 2015, and then was overtaken by sales of DPP-4 inhibitors. Sales continued to decrease further to 41.7% in 2019. On the other hand, SGLT-2 inhibitor class drugs have been rapidly increasing their influence since their introduction in 2014. Their prescription rate, which had been only 2.4% in 2015, rose to 10.8% in 2019.
- Policy
- Two companies' Ticagrelor can be reimbursed
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Oct 07, 2022 06:04am
- Brilinta was released last monthAs Kukje and Korea United Pharmaceutical newly entered the anti-thrombotic Ticagrelor market, it was reorganized into a competitive system for nine companies. Although the original Brilinta's material patent expired in November last year, only six pharmaceutical companies' products entered the market due to high manufacturing costs and lack of marketability. And although generics for exclusivity ended last August, no news of generics' benefit was heard that month. According to the industry on the 6th, Kukjel has obtained benefits for Ticagrelor since September and Korea United Pharmaceutical from this month. Kukje is competing in the market with Brilor and Korea United Pharmaceutical with Tiglor. Competition, which had been stagnant due to their participation, has resumed. Currently, Hutex Pharmaceutical Korea, Alboven Korea, Hana Pharmaceutical, Samjin Pharmaceutical, Korea United Pharmaceutical, Kukjel, Genuonesciences, and Chong Kun Dang are competing in the market. Among them, Samjin, Korea United Pharm, Kukje Pharma, Genuonescience, and Chong Kun Dang are their own manufactured products, and the rest of the products are all entrusted to Genuonescience for consignment production. There are 41 licensed generics for Ticagrelor companies, but many consigned items are believed to have given up the market due to high raw material prices. Kukje and United Pharm, which have additionally been challenged, are analyzed to have solved the cost problem through their manufacturing. However, it is not a good situation for generic companies to succeed in the market. First of all, the Ticagrelor formulation market is gradually decreasing. Original Brilinta's outpatient prescription performance is gradually decreasing, with 10.8 billion won in 2019, 9.8 billion won in 2020 and 9.7 billion won in 2021. United is also seeking to expand its market by adding Tiglor to Clopidogrel-based Clavixin and Clavixin Duo. In the medical field, Ticagrelor does not have drug resistance due to existing clopidogrel CYP2C19 gene mutation It is believed that generics can sufficiently succeed in the market because it has the advantage of fast drug expression time.
- Company
- Lilly prepares to introduce Olumiant for hair loss in Korea
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Oct 07, 2022 06:04am
- JAK inhibitors may soon be prescribed to treat hair loss in Korea as well. According to industry sources, Lilly Korea is preparing to apply and expand the indication for its JAK inhibitor Olumiant (baricitinib) to severe alopecia areata to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. After the drug was approved in June for the indication by the US FDA, the company is quickly entering global commercialization. Olumiant selectively and reversibly inhibits JAK1 and JAK2 to reduce the expression of inflammatory cytokines and demonstrates an overall anti-inflammatory effect. It was first approved as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, then expanded its indication to atopic dermatitis in Korea and some other countries. In the US, Olumiant is also prescribed to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Alopecia areata is also an autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack its own hair follicles, resulting in hair falling out. In addition to scalp hair, eyebrows and eyelashes can also fall out. The efficacy of Olumiant in severe alopecia areata patients was demonstrated through the company’s BRAVE-AA1 and BRAVE-AA2 trials. The two trials evaluated the safety and efficacy of Olumiant in 1,300 patients compared with a placebo. In the AA1 trial, 22% of the 184 patients that took Olumiant 2mg, and 35% of the 281 patients that took Olumiant 4mg showed an appropriate level of scalp hair coverage and achieved a Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score of 20 or less. The rate was only 5.3% in the placebo arm. The higher the SALT score, the more severe the degree of hair loss is considered to be. 31% and 35% improvements in eyebrow and eyelash coverage were also observed in the Olumiant 2mg and 4mg arm, respectively. In the AA2 trial, 17% of the Olumiant 2mg arm and 32% of the Olumiant 4mg arm achieved a SALT score of 20 or less, which was significantly higher than the 2.6% in the placebo arm. According to a Sungkyunkwan University report, around 25% of adults in Korea are known to have severe or worse alopecia areata, with less than 10% of these patients progressing to the extent that their hair almost falls out.
- Company
- GC Pharma sells GSK's new shingles vaccine Shingrix together
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Oct 07, 2022 06:03am
- ShingrixGC Pharma and GSK will jointly sell the shingles vaccine Shingrix. The two companies are expected to sell a new shingles vaccine as early as the end of this year. According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 6th, GC Pharma and GSK recently signed a co-promotion contract for Shingrix and started product training for salespeople before its full-scale release. It is expected that the product will be released at the end of this year. GSK obtained Shingrix permission from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in September last year. It was originally planned to be released in February this year, but the schedule was delayed. Shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent herpes zoster in adults over the age of 50 and immunocompromised people over the age of 18. When Shingrix is released, it is expected to be the third shingles vaccine in Korea after MSD Zostavax and SK Bioscience's Sky Zoster. It is evaluated that the effect of preventing shingles confirmed in clinical trials is superior to that of the two existing vaccines. In Shingrix clinical trials (ZOE-50) for adults over the age of 50, the effect of preventing shingles was 97% at 3.2 years after vaccination. In clinical trials (ZOE-70) for those aged 70 or older, it was 90% at 3.7 years after vaccination. In the case of Zostavax, a competitive product, it has a preventive effect of 51% for those over 50 and 41% for those over 70. Sky Zoster demonstrated Zostavax and specific heat in clinical practice. It is analyzed that there is no significant difference from Zostavax in terms of prevention rate. GC Pharma has experience in co-selling MSD's shingles vaccine Zostavax in the past. Since 2013, GC Pharma has co-sold Zostavax for eight years until 2020 through a contract extension once after signing a co-promotion contract with MSD. In the process, Zostavax has grown into a large item with annual sales of 80 billion won. However, SK Bioscience launched its competitive product Sky Zoster at the end of 2017, and sales have decreased significantly since 2020 due to the prolonged Corona crisis. According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market research firm, Zostavax sales last year amounted to 27 billion won, down 68% in four years from 83.7 billion won in 2017. This year, sales were only 11.6 billion won until the first half of the year. The pharmaceutical industry expects Shingrix to lead the domestic shingles vaccine market to rebound. In the global market, Shingrix's sales, which had already been dampened by the Corona crisis, began to recover in the second half of last year. In the first half of this year, Shingrix's global sales were £1.429 billion, more than doubling compared to the same period last year. An official from GC Pharma and GSK Korea said, "There is nothing to mention regarding Shingrix's domestic sales."
- Policy
- Innovative pharmaceutical companies' new drug tx
- by Lee, Jeong-Hwan Oct 07, 2022 06:03am
- It was also pointed out that the government is delaying the preparation of a sub-law of a clause that favors the price of new drugs developed by innovative pharmaceutical companies in the Special Act on the Promotion of the Pharmaceutical Industry. Critics say that it has not been active in subsequent legislation such as enforcement ordinances and enforcement rules for the fourth year of legislation. On the 5th, Rep. Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea claimed, "We need to come up with a policy of preferential treatment for new drugs made by innovative pharmaceutical companies as soon as possible." Nam is criticizing the government for being indifferent to follow-up legislation even though the law on the addition of the upper limit on health insurance medical care benefits was implemented in December 2018 for new innovative pharmaceutical companies unrelated to the Korea-U.S. FTA trade issue. In particular, considering that improving the self-sufficiency rate of raw materials is an important task, it was also suggested that it is necessary to consider preferential treatment for related raw materials such as infectious disease vaccines such as COVID-19 and innovative new drugs. Rep. Nam In-soon said, "The government has designated bio-health as the so-called Big3 industry and has been pushing for a plan to promote bio-digital health as a major export industry and improve public health by spreading digital healthcare and big data-based advanced and precision medical care." Representative Nam said, "There are only generic drug preferential regulations for innovative pharmaceutical companies, but there are no drug preferential regulations for new drugs, so the contradictory situation of encouraging generic development over new drugs continues." She then said, "We are also implementing a policy that favors drug prices for the first approved new drugs in Japan and Taiwan and new drugs from companies that have conducted clinical trials in Korea." She added, "To become a global hub of bio and digital health, not only support such as preferential drug prices for innovative pharmaceutical companies, but also various support measures such as training R&D and manpower, financial support, overseas expansion support, and reduction of levies."
- Policy
- The incidence of adverse effects in Alecensa is 80%
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Oct 06, 2022 06:05am
- A five-year post-marketing survey (PMS) of the Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) mutant non-small cell lung cancer treatment Alecensa 150mg showed 1012 significant drug abnormalities that could not rule out causality. The permit will be changed with 20 and 122 cases of serious drug adverse reactions and unexpected drug adverse reactions that cannot be excluded from causal relationships, respectively. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that it will prepare an order (proposal) to change the permission based on the results of the investigation after marketing Alecensa in Roche Korea and conduct an opinion inquiry until the 19th. Eisai Korea obtained an item license for Fycompa film coated tab on July 10, 2015. Alecensa received a domestic item license in October 2016 for the treatment of ALK-positive local progressive and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients who had been treated with Xalkori. After expanding the indication to primary treatment in 2018, Alecensa sales exceeded Xalkori, which is 20.3 billion won, from 10.4 billion won in 2018 to 22.1 billion won in 2019. Since then, it has expanded to 29.3 billion won in 2020 and 32.7 billion won in 2021. As a result of a five-year post-marketing survey of 345 people under the patient registration program in Korea, the expression rate of abnormal cases was reported to be 80.29% (277/345 cases, a total of 1012 cases), regardless of causality. Among them, 4.64% (16/345 people, 20 cases) of serious drug abnormalities were reported, including mouth inflammation, increased blood bilirubin, increased blood creatine phosphorylase, increased blood creatinine, peripheral edema, fever, and death. Unexpected drug abnormalities such as decreased red blood cell volume rate decreased red blood cell count, joint pain, muscle weakness, dizziness, and nephropathy were found to be 24.06% (83/345 cases, 122 cases). The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety plans to change the permit after hearing opinions on the change order.
- InterView
- “Sanofi’s flu vaccine is different...has 100-year legacy"
- by Oct 06, 2022 06:05am
- Sanofi has been making unexpected strides in Korea's flu (influenza) vaccine market this year. The company has not only made a bid for the National Immunization Program (NIP) for the first time this year, but it also started supplying its flu vaccines exceptionally quickly. Multinational pharmaceutical companies usually start the supply of their flu vaccines in October every year due to the longer time required for their release in Korea. However, Sanofi received the approval to release their vaccines at the same time as domestic vaccines and started distributing in mid-August. Its supply price is also not so different from domestic flu vaccines. Sanofi's unprecedented move is not unrelated to this year’s influenza outlook. This year, influenza, which had been on the low side due to COVID-19, is predicted to rise for the first time in 3 years this year. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency issued a nationwide influenza warning last month. According to KDCA, the proportion of suspected flu patients per 1,000 people on the 39th week (September 18th-24th) was 4.9, exceeding the epidemic standards. In particular, Type A H3N2, which is expected to become the dominant strain this year is a successor of the ‘Hong Kong Flu,’ and is known as one of the most virulent strains. This is why the KDCA has been actively encouraging flu vaccinations. Although the 9 types of quadrivalent flu vaccines distributed in Korea are thought to have similar prevention effects, a closer look shows that there are differences. Some vaccines cannot be administered to infants or patients with cardiovascular diseases. Also, domestic vaccines can be administered to pregnant women, but their safety has not been demonstrated through clinical trials. Vaxigrip Tetra (Sanofi) and Fluarix Tetra (GSK) are the only flu vaccines that can be administered in all high-risk groups. This is why Sanofi, which is standing at the same level as domestic companies in terms of price, supply timing, and amount, is showing confidence this time. During an interview with Daily Pharm, Guan Lee Ang, Country Medical Lead at Sanofi Korea, said, “With over 100 years of history in developing vaccines, Sanofi owns a vaccine portfolio for over 20 types of infectious diseases. Our quadrivalent flu vaccine, ‘Vaxigrip Tetra,’ has verified safety and immunogenicity with robust clinical data. Vaxigrip Tetra’s differentiated strength lies in how it is the only vaccine to have verified efficacy and safety in the high-risk group.” Guan Lee Ang, Country Medical Lead at Sanofi Korea The high-risk group, infants over 6 years of age, pregnant women, cardiovascular patients, etc., are known to be at 10 times higher risk of acute myocardial infarction and at 8 times higher risk of strokes when infected with influenza. Infants and children are also at high risk of pneumonia as a related complication. Influenza infection can also lead to death, and an estimated 70-85% of those deaths were observed in patients over the age of 65. Clinical trial results showed that influenza infections from vaccine-like virus strain were reduced by 68%, and infection from all A&B types of influenza virus was reduced by 72% in infants aged between 6 months to 35 months when vaccinated with Vaxigrip Tetra. The risk of influenzas infection in pregnant women was also reduced by up to 72%. Also, the study showed vaccination was related to a reduction in the mortality rate in patients with myocardial infarction or high-risk coronary artery disease. The problem lies in the low public awareness of the need to receive influenza vaccines. Due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis, people have been receiving vaccinations every 3 to 6 months, which led to increased fatigue over vaccinations and decreased reliability. Also, some are expecting influenza to not spread as much due to the small number of flu patients and the cultural specificity of how people are continuing to wear masks even after the mandatory outdoor mask regulation was lifted, In response, Sanofi's Vaccine Division is concentrating on reinforcing flu awareness. While carrying out a campaign to raise awareness of influenza among the general public, the company plans to hold a webinar for healthcare professionals on the preventive benefits of vaccinations based on clinical data. Ang said, “65% of employees in the vaccine division serve in departments related to quality testing, and most of the vaccine production period is devoted to quality testing. Also, we are working with distributors who have established thorough cold chains to stably supply our high-quality products. We will continue to strive to improve access to influenza vaccines for high-risk groups and improve public health in Korea.”
