April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] LG Chem, Korea’s top chemical firm, said on April 2 that annual sales of its diabetes treatment Zemiglo surpassed 70 billion won (US$66.10 million) last year, marking the first homegrown medicine to achieve that milestone.

A total of 73.8 billion won worth of the anti-diabetic drugs was sold in Korea in 2017, up 32.5 percent from 55.7 billion won in 2016, the company said.

Zemiglo -- developed by LG Life Sciences, a biotech unit of Korean conglomerate LG Group --- was approved in 2012 as the country’s 19th homegrown drug.

“The success of Zemiglo shows that a homegrown drug can succeed in the Korean market dominated by drugs made by multinational pharmaceutical companies,” said Son Jee-woong, head of LG Chem’s Life Sciences Business Division.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)