Dongkook Pharmaceutical said Monday that it has signed a business agreement with GC Biopharma for the domestic sales and marketing of its insulin biosimilar Glargia Prefilled Pen (insulin glargine).

Under the agreement, Dongkook will be responsible for the domestic sales and marketing of Glargia. Glargia Prefilled Pen, for which GC has obtained domestic approval, is a once-daily basal insulin biosimilar product developed by India-based biosimilar company Biocon Biologics (BBL). The original product is Sanofi’s Lantus.

Insulin injections are broadly divided into mealtime insulin and basal insulin. In Korea, Novo Nordisk’s Tresiba FlexTouch Inj. (insulin degludec) and Levemir FlexPen (insulin determer), Sanofi’s Lantus, and Tuojeo Inj. Solostar and Eli Lilly’s Basaglar Kwik Pen (insulin glargine) are available.

“We are focusing on the diabetes market as the core of new growth engines in the specialty drug market. With this agreement, we have gained differentiated competitiveness from other companies,” a Dongkook official said. “We will actively seek cooperation with GC Biopharma in the future, too.”