The competition between No.2 and No.3 next-generation anticoagulant is heating up.

Daiichi Sankyo’s Lixiana, a latecomer in the non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC) market, ranked second in outpatient prescriptions in February, beating BMS’ Eliquis and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Pradaxa.

According to data from U-BIST, a pharmaceutical market researcher, Bayer Korea’s Xarelto topped monthly outpatient prescriptions in the NOAC market in January and February. Lixiana, Eliquis, and Pradaxa ranked second, third, and the fourth.

Lixiana posted 2.178 billion won ($2.025 million) in outpatient prescriptions in February, slightly outpacing 2.176 billion won record of Eliquis.

Eliquis gave away the No.2 position to Lixiana with a 5.8 percent monthly fall in February.

Xarelto maintained the top position with 3.27 billion won prescriptions last month, down 6.9 percent from 3.51 billion won in the previous month.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s Pradaxa marked only 1.19 billion won prescriptions, plunging 17.7 percent compared to 1.45 billion won a month earlier and ranked the lowest among NOACs.

Warfarin products, which used to move the anticoagulant market, were almost entirely replaced by NOACs. None of Warfarin drugs recorded more than 100 billion won a month.

“Most of the pharmaceutical earnings fell in February because the national holidays shortened business days. Since NOACs need to be taken continuously, we don’t give much meaning to February earnings,” a pharmaceutical source said. “But it is quite notable that Lixiana ranked second because it was the first case for a latecomer to do so, amid frequent changes in rankings after the product launch.”

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