Ildong Pharmaceutical and Abbot Korea are likely to try on the rosuvastatin and ezetimibe combination therapy market soon.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Tuesday approved for Ildong’s Droptop (ingredient: rosuvastatin/ezetimibe) and Abbot Korea’s Ribstar Plus (ingredient: rosuvastatin/ezetimibe). Both drugs are a once-daily treatment for dyslipidemia, primary hypercholesterolemia, or mixed dyslipidemia.

There are more than 20 combo drugs of rosuvastatin and ezetimibe in the market, including Rosuzet, Rosuvamibe, Ezerosu, Rovazet, Daviduo, Rozet, Duonon, and Roze Duo.

The local rosuvastatin and ezetimibe combo market has grown to 54 billion won ($49.6 million) in the first half of this year. Most prescribed combo drug is Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Rosuzet. The prescriptions for Rosuzet reached 17.79 billion won in the first half, followed by Yuhan Corp.’s Rosuvamibe with 9.25 billion won, CJ HealthCare’s Rovazet with 4.83 billion won, Kyungdong Pharm’s Duoroban with 4.12 billion won, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s Crezent with 3.09 billion won.

The rosuvastatin and ezetimibe combo lowers cholesterol by dual inhibition of both cholesterol absorption and synthesis in the liver and the small intestine. Drugs combining statin with ezetimibe reportedly lower LDL-C, compared to statin-only therapy. Thanks to the dual inhibition, the demand for the combo drug is rising. Observers forecast that the rosuvastatin and ezetimibe combo market will grow further.

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