Rise of 4-drug combos in hypertension/hyperlipidemia Tx mkt

Sales of 3-drug combos that flourished is slowing down...prescription increased by 5% in one year

4-drug combinations have entered competitions in earnest... Amosartan XQ predicts sales of KRW 10 billion a year

The growth of 3-drug combinations has slowed down in the hypertension/hyperlipidemia combination drug market.

 

After recording double-digit YoY growth every quarter until the first half of last year, the spurt has slowed sharply since the end of last year.

 

On the other hand, the 4-drug combinations that newly entered the market are rapidly expanding their influence.

 

Prescription sales of Hanmi Pharm’s Amosartan XQ, which is leading the growth of 4-drug combinations, are expected to exceed KRW 10 billion in annual prescriptions.

 

Brakes pulled on the growth of 3-drug combos…rate of growth reduced According to the market research institution UBIST, the outpatient prescription market size for 3-drug combo treatments that contain ARB+CCB+statin had reached KRW 15.3 billion in Q2.

 

This is a 5% increase from the KRW 14.5 billion in Q2 last year.

 

Although the market size expanded compared to the same period last year, the growth rate has slowed significantly recently.

 

Sales of the 3-drug combination that contains ARB+CCB+statin for hypertension and hyperlipidemia have been marking double-digit growth until the first half of last year.

 

Especially in 2020, the market has expanded rapidly.

 

Prescriptions more than doubled every quarter, compared to the same period last year.

 

In 2021, the market continued to grow, expanding by more than 30% every quarter.

 

However, the growth slowed significantly since the second half of last year.

 

In Q3 last year, the market size increased by only 8% YoY.

 

From the Q4 of last year to Q2 of this year, the quarterly growth rate of prescriptions fell to 5%.

 

Prescription performance of combo therapies for hypertension and hyperlipidemia

It took just one year from Q4 2019 to Q4 2020 for the prescription scale of the 3-drug combination of ARB+CCB+statin for hypertension and hyperlipidemia to expand from KRW 5 billion to over KRW 10 billion.

 

On the other hand, it took two and a half years to increase the size from KRW 10 billion to KRW 15 billion.

 

The prescription size of the market, which had been around KRW 10.8 billion in Q4 2020 expanded to more than KRW 15 billion only in Q2 this year.

 

Sales of most of the major products also showed a slowdown.

 

Boryung Dukaro (fimasartan + amlodipine + rosuvastatin) posted KRW 4 billion in prescriptions in Q2.

 

This is virtually no change from what it had made in Q2 last year.

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Amosartan Q (losartan + amlodipine + rosuvastatin) and Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s Olomax (olmesartan + amlodipine + rosuvastatin) even showed a decline in prescription performance.

 

For example, prescriptions of Amosartan Q which had been KRW 2.9 billion in Q2 last year, slightly fell to KRW 2.8 billion in one year.

 

Sales of Olomax had also fallen from KRW 2.3 billion to KRW 2.2 billion.

 

Prescription performance of major three-drug combo treatments for hypertension and hyperlipidemia

Will sales of the 4-drug combos surge like the 3-drug combos...Sales of Amosartan XQ rise 75% in one-year Unlike the 3-drug combos, the 4-drug combos that were newly introduced to hypertension/hyperlipidemia combination drug market are rapidly expanding prescriptions.

 

In Q2 last year, the 4-drug combination of ARB + CCB + statin + ezetimibe posted a sales performance of KRW 3.2 billion in the outpatient prescription market.

 

Compared to the KRW 1.5 billion it had posted in Q2 last year, this is a more than twofold increase.

 

This is similar to when the 3-drug combination was first introduced to the market.

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical was the first to release Amosartan XQ (losartan + amlodipine + rosuvastatin + ezetimibe) and form the market.

 

Then, at the end of last year, GC Biopharma and Jeil Pharmaceuticals released Rozetelpine and Telmican-Q, respectively, both of which are combinations of telmisartan, amlodipine, rosuvastatin, and ezetimibe.

 

In January this year, Chong Kun Dang released Nuvorozet.

 

Nuvorozet contains the same combination as Rozetelpine and Telmican-Q with only amlodipine replaced with amlodipine.

 

The market is currently being led by Amosartan XQ.

 

The drug had recorded prescriptions of KRW 2.7 billion in Q2 this year.

 

This is a 75% increase from the KRW 1.5 billion in Q2 last year.

 

Amosartan XQ recorded a combined prescription performance of KRW 5 billion in the first half of the year, and at this rate, the drug is expected to record more than KRW 10 billion in annual sales this year.

 

Meanwhile, the two-drug combinations of ARB + statin are showing a gradual decline in prescriptions.

 

In Q2 last year, the two-drug combination drugs recorded a combined prescription performance of KRW 20.9 billion.

 

This is a 6% YoY decline.

 

The combination sold the most in Q3 2021, accounting for KRW 23.3 billion, but has been downhill ever since with the introduction of the 3-drug combinations.