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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 28, 2024

Industrials

Korean drug firms compete for top position

  • PUBLISHED :December 06, 2016 - 10:46
  • UPDATED :December 06, 2016 - 10:46
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[THE INVESTOR] Two South Korean drug firms are competing to be the first local maker of a new homegrown medication with record annual sales of more than 50 billion won (US$4.28 million), sources said on Dec. 6.

Industry experts define a blockbuster drug an extremely popular medicine that generates annual sales of at least 10 billion won (US$8.60 million). No locally produced drug has posted annual sales of 50 billion won or more so far.

According to the sources, one of the candidates is LG Life Sciences with its next generation diabetes treatment Zemiglo.

In the first three quarters of this year, sales of Zemiglo and its combination product Zemimet reached a combined 37.3 billion won, compared with 24.8 billion won last year.

LG Life Sciences said its sales rose at a faster clip after the company changed its distributor to South Korean pharmaceutical company Daewoong from French drug firm Sanofi early this year.

Boryung Pharmaceutical, one of South Kore’‘s largest pharmaceutical companies, expects annual sales of its high blood pressure drug Kanarb to flirt with 50 billion won this year.

In the January-September period, sales of the country’s first homegrown hypertension medication stood at 33.8 billion won.
Since its launch, sales of Kanarb have been growing at a double-digit rate. For this year, the number is certain to surpass the 40 billion won mark.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)

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