Chinese pharmaceutical companies, armed with new drug technology developed by huge capital, are targeting the local market in earnest.
China has been Korea's largest importer of raw materials for pharmaceuticals, but the world’s second-largest economy has rarely exported finished products to Korea until now.
That was the story until last year. Some Chinese companies have established offshoots in Korea to enter the local drug market and commercialize new drugs.
A case in point is Antengene Corp., which plans to launch Xpovio, treatment of multiple refractory myelomas and refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The Chinese company received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in July.
Antengene Corp., established in 2017 and located in Shanghai, is an anticancer drug developer with global pharmaceutical companies, including BMS, as its major investors.
The company also received official approval from the Korean regulator to import pharmaceuticals and other medical goods on Tuesday and is expected to launch more anticancer drugs to the local drug market soon.
Other Chinese pharmaceutical companies, including BeiGene, which has already established an offshoot in Korea, Dizal Pharmaceutical, a joint venture between AstraZeneca and the Chinese Future Industry Investment Fund (FIIF), and Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, are also poised to enter the local market.
BeiGene is a supplier of Amgen's Xgeva, Kyprolis, Blincyto, and other anticancer drugs in China. Amgen has also acquired a 20.5 percent stake in the company for about $2.7 billion in 2019.
According to industry insiders, the company is preparing to introduce its anticancer drug lineup in Korea, starting with its immune checkpoint Brukinsa.
The company won the go-ahead for Brukinsa, an anti-PD-1 antibody tislelizumab, as a treatment for unresectable recurrent locally advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after prior systemic therapy from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September.
Dizal Pharmaceutical has been conducting phase 1 and 2 clinical trials for DZD9008, a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment, in Korea since June of last year.
The clinical trial aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor efficacy of DZD9008 in patients with advanced NSCLC with EGFR or HER2 mutations.
The company will conduct the trial at St. Vincent Hospital, National Cancer Center, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, and Asan Medical Center in 44 patients.
Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine has yet to establish an offshoot in Korea, but it has licensed out its treatments to local pharmaceutical companies, including Crystal Genomics and HLB.
The company sold the Korean rights to camrelizumab and pyrotinib to Crystal Genomics and HLB Healthcare, respectively.
As there have been few cases of Chinese-based pharmaceutical companies obtaining business licenses in Korea and importing and supplying pharmaceuticals, industry insiders are closely paying attention to the company's business.
"Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been our biggest importers of raw pharmaceutical products. However, they have recently increased their presence in the global new drug market," a local pharmaceutical company official said, asking to remain anonymous. "Therefore, a lot of local pharmaceutical companies are closely watching what kind of impact they will have in the local market."