“As a pharmaceutical company that makes drugs directly affecting Korean people’s health, we will walk on the right path with unwavering faith.”
So said Korea United Pharm CEO Kang Duk-young at a group interview with health journalists where he evaluated the company’s performance last year and shared business strategies for 2022.
Korea United Pharm is a rare local drugmaker that successfully developed incrementally modified drugs (IMDs), whereas other domestic rivals focused on generic medicines. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company announced a plan to develop an inhaled Covid-19 treatment and drew even more attention.
Unlike other Korean drug companies that excessively promoted their experimental Covid-19 vaccines and treatments through press releases, Korea United Pharm remained relatively quiet about its Covid-19 drug development.
“Knowing how long it takes to develop a new drug and how risky it is to predict its success, I could not talk about hope to shareholders hastily,” Kang said.
Some may exaggerate their Covid-19 drug or vaccine development plans to make money, but it could create victims, he added. “Knowing this risk, I don’t want to lie.”
Within the first half of the year, Korea United Pharm aims to commercialize UI030, an inhaled Covid-19 treatment. UI030 is an IMD made by combining budesonide and arformoterol that simultaneously show antiviral and immunity control effects before the Covid-19 treatment. The company has been working on treating asthma for six years.
In May 2021, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved a phase 2 study on Covid-19 patients. Earlier this year, the company confirmed the safety and the inhaler’s inhalation efficiency in a phase 1 study.
In the phase 2 trial, the company will evaluate the efficacy and safety in moderate and severe Covid-19 patients. Korea United Pharm hopes that UI030 could become the first inhaled Covid-19 self-treatment.
“Side effects of UI030 ingredients have already been reviewed. If the drug is commercialized, it could reduce the risk of disease progression to severe cases and become the essential treatment for Covid-19 patients treating themselves at home,” Kang said.
The company recently obtained GMP certification at its second plant in Sejong, about 112 kilometers south of Seoul, to prepare for quick manufacturing of UI030 once it gets a marketing permit. The plant can manufacture over 8,000 inhalers, and a single inhaler can be used 60 times.
Kang said Korea United Pharm’s revenue is believed to have grown about 4 percent to 240 billion won ($200.5 million) last year. In 2022, the growth will accelerate, he said. He added that the company would increase the proportion of IMDs and exports this year.
The drugmaker will identify unmet medical needs and continuously develop and release IMDs, Kang went on to say. “In both local and overseas sales, we will expand our portfolios of IMDs,” he said.
He picked Atmeg Combigel Soft Cap., a combination drug of omega-3 and atorvastatin, as the key product to grow this year. Atmeg Combigel recorded over 1 billion won monthly sales after the market release, exceeding the company’s goal. Kang said that along with Cilostan CR Tab. and Gastin Tab., Atmeg Combigel could become a blockbuster drug.
High-dose rabeprazole, which obtained the nod this year, and Rabeduo Tab., a combo of rabeprazole and sodium bicarbonate, will also be able to secure the market first, he predicted.
Last year, Korea United Pharm signed an export deal with a Mexican drug logistics company designated by the Mexican government to supply 60 billion won worth 16 types of anticancer drugs.
Based on the deal, the Korean drugmaker will reach not only Mexico but the entire Latin American market, the company said.