Saxenda (liraglutide) has been recording dominant sales in the growing obesity treatment market in Korea.

Therefore, the drug is expected to monopolize the obesity treatment market until other new obesity treatments such as ‘Wegovy (semaglutide, Novo Nordisk)’ and ‘Mounjaro (tirzepatide, Lilly)’ are released in Korea.

#According to the market investigation institution IQVIA on the 25th, Novo Nordisk’s Saxenda showed a surge in quarterly prescription sales recently.

More specifically, Saxenda’s sales recorded KRW 10.4 billion in Q1 last year, then increased to KRW 15.4 billion in Q2, then recorded a quarterly best record of KRW 16.6 in Q3 last year. In other words, the company succeeded in bringing in more than KRW 40 billion in only three quarters last year.

Compared to the same three quarters of the previous year, the drug recorded a 70% growth in its sales and solidified its lead in the domestic obesity treatment market.

Sales of its competitor Qsymia((phentermine / topiramate ER) have been pushed back by Saxenda's rapid growth, and the sales gap between the two drugs seems to be rather widening despite Qsymia’s sales increase.

Alvogen Korea’s Qsymia recorded prescription sales of KRW 8.2 billion in Q3 last year, which is over twice the difference in quarterly sales compared to Saxenda. Qsymia is currently sold by Chong Kun Dang in Korea.

Then why has Saxenda been able to enjoy such rapid growth in sales? The medical and pharmaceutical industry pointed to how the drug’s indication was expanded to treat children and adolescents this year.

In December 2021, the indication for Saxenda had been expanded to treat adolescents aged 12 to 18 with obesity in Korea with a body weight above 60 kg and an initial BMI corresponding to ≥30 kg/m2 for adults.

Novo Nordisk had implemented active sales and marketing activities, such as opening a 'Saxenda portal' exclusively for doctors and launching a digital weight management application to support weight control for patients who have been prescribed Saxenda.

A PM that requested anonymity, said, “In the case of Saxenda, its indication expansion to adolescents was the key driver of its sales growth. The number of obesity patients has surged with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the timely indication expansion to pediatric and adolescent patients brought a synergistic effect.”

Also, the industry saw that the lowered price and MFDS’s ‘warning’ in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic was behind the rise in sales of Saxenda in local clinics.

Since last year, the MFDS has been strengthening control over antipsychotics that contain ▲ phentermine, ▲ phendimetrazine, ▲diethylpropion, and ▲mazindol to address concerns over the misuse and abuse of drugs.

A doctor from an internal clinical in Seoul who requested anonymity said, “The obesity treatment market is one representative non-reimbursed treatment market. Its average price had been up to KRW 150,000 at the highest, but its price has now fallen to the KRW 70,000-80,000 range in some areas. In the case of Qsymia, no dumping sales of the product are being made yet as the drug is still new to the market.”

“Qsymia costs KRW 4,000 per tablet, therefore, a 30-day prescription of the drug will cost KRW 120,000. Saxenda’s lowered price has therefore led to the increase in sales as well.”

Professor Hee-Jin Hwang of the International St. Mary’s Hospital (Department of Family Medicine) who also serves as an executive member of the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity, said, “The MFDS had issued a warning disposition to some doctors in the course of reinforcing management of antipsychotic drugs. As some obesity treatments contain controlled substances, this would inevitably affect the prescription behavior of doctors.”