Prescription sales of antihypertensive drugs and antiarteriosclerotic treatments soared in Korea by more than 100 billion won ($93 million) last year compared with 2016, government data showed.
MSD Korea’s Atozet enjoyed the fastest growth among antihypertensive treatments, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s Sevikar HCT, among antiarteriosclerotic drugs.
According to data from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA), prescriptions of antihypertensive drugs and antiarteriosclerotic treatments increased by more than 100 billion won, respectively, in the first 10 months of last year from a year ago.
The prescription sales of antihypertensive drugs marked 1.3 trillion won between January and October of 2017, up by 164.7 billion won a year earlier. Their volume ranked No.1 in drugs classified by effectiveness, as they have done so over the recent several years.
Antiarteriosclerotic drugs came next, rising by 151.2 billion won to 1.28 trillion won in the cited period.
HIRA does not disclose each drug’s prescription data.
However, U-BIST, a pharmaceutical market researcher, has analyzed outpatient prescription data. According to U-BIST, Daiichi Sankyo Korea’s Sevikar HCT, sold by Daewoong Pharm, had the largest gain in outpatient prescription sales of antihypertensive drugs in 2017 from the previous year.
Sevikar HCT posted 28.82 billion won in prescription sales in 2017, up by 3.9 billion won (15.7 percent) from 24.99 billion won in 2016.
Trailed close by Sevikar HCT, Chong Kun Dang’s Telminuvo marked 29.64 billion won last year, increasing by 1.36 billion won from a year earlier.
On the other hand, prescriptions of the No. 1 antihypertensive drug Twynsta by Boehringer Ingelheim Korea fell to 81.18 billion won last year, sliding by 16.9 percent (16.4 billion won) from 2016.
Among antiarteriosclerotic drugs, prescriptions of MSD Korea’s Atozet (sold by Chong Kun Dang) went up the most by 18.3 billion won, followed by Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Rosuzet by 15.1 billion won, and Yuhan Corp.’s Rosuvamibe by 14.1 billion won.
The leading antiarterioscelerotic treatment, Lipitor by Pfizer Korea, suffered a 0.8 percent decline (1.26 billion won) in prescription sales to 156.64 billion won in 2017 from a year earlier. Jeil Pharm jointly sells Lipitor.
Among drugs classified by effectiveness, the drugs with the steepest decline in prescriptions last year were “other circulatory system drugs” (under the health and welfare ministry’s classification code 219).
Among them, Dong-A ST’s Opalmon suffered the sharpest fall in prescriptions last year by 1.91 billion won, followed by Boryung Biopharma’s Astrix that saw a 1.75 billion won drop. Bayer’s Aspirin Protect went down by 1.37 billion won, and Pfizer’s Caduet (sold by Jeil Pharm), by 700 million won.