Original drugs in the erectile dysfunction treatment market, such as Viagra and Cialis, have failed to defeat generic copies in the first quarter, industry data showed Tuesday.
According to data from IQVIA, Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Viagra copy Palpal sold the most in the sildenafil market in the first quarter, and Chong Kun Dang’s Cialis imitation Cendom, the tadalafil market.
Palpal and Cendom hit the market immediately after the expiration of patents of Pfizer’s Viagra and Lilly’s Cialis. The two products have become particularly popular with their prices set lower than those of originals.
Viagra had a steeper sales decline than Palpal in the first quarter. Palpal’s revenue fell 3 percent to 4.9 billion won ($4.5 million) in the first quarter from 5 billion won a year earlier.
During the same period, Viagra sales plunged 7.4 percent to 2.5 billion won from 2.7 billion won.
Although both Viagra and Palpal failed to see their first-quarter sales exceed last year’s figures, Palpal maintained the No. 1 status by selling more than 2 billion won than Viagra.
Original drug Cialis also failed to beat the generic drug in the tadalafil market. Chong Kun Dang’s Cendom sold 2.2 billion won in the first quarter, up 11.6 percent from 1.9 billion won a year earlier. Cendom has become a threat not only to Cialis but Viagra.
Original drug Cialis’ revenue went down as much as that of Cendom went up. Cialis sold 1.9 billion won in the first quarter, down 11.9 percent from 2.2 billion won a year earlier.
Hanmi Pharm’s Gugu, targeting Cialis, also grew to sell 1.3 billion won in the first quarter. The revenue was up 14 percent compared to 1.2 billion won in the previous year.
The combined revenue of the erectile dysfunction treatments inched down 1.7 percent to 13 billion won in the first quarter from 1.3 billion won a year earlier. Robust growth of tadalafil agents Cendom and Gugu buffered the steep drop in other medicines.
“At least in the Korean market, generic drugs have overwhelmed the originals. Generics were able to grow due to low prices which gave easier access to consumers,” a pharmaceutical source noted.