Generic products are showing tremendous growth in the market of Donepezil, one of the most common drugs for dementia, industry watchers say.
The combined prescription of eight products based on Donepezil component in the third quarter totaled 29.39 billion won ($25.75 million), up 9.4 percent year on year, according to Korea Biomedical Review’s analysis of a data at market survey firm Ubist.
Eisai Korea’s Aricept, the original drug, recorded quarterly prescription of 17.27 billion won, an increase of 4.9 percent from 16.45 billion won a year ago, maintaining its market leader position.
Market watchers had predicted Aricept’s prescription would fall faced with the surge of many generic drugs. Eisai Korea’s defense strategy by partnering with Chong Kun Dang with strong marketing power seemed to work, the observers said.
Others said Aricept’s defense of its market share is uncertain in the future, however, citing its 4.9 percent growth hovered way below the 9.4 percent growth of the overall Donepezil market.
Samjin Pharm’s Neutoin, which had been the front-runner among generic products, became the only one to register prescription decline among high-ranked products. Its prescription stood at 2.84 billion won, dropping 14.9 percent from 3.34 billion won.
Absorbing Neutoin’s lost shares were Daewoong Bio’s Bearcept and Jeil Pharmaceutical’s Donepil. Bearcept’s prescription soared 63.4 percent from 1.49 billion won to 2.42 billion over the period. If Bearcept maintains the current pace, it will be able to rise to the No. 2 position.
Donepil’s growth pace was nothing to sneeze at, either. Its prescription surged 66.1 percent from 1.07 billion won to 1.79 billion won, marking the steepest increase rate among the eight generic medicines.
Also, Hanmi Pharm’s Donezil registered the increase of 21.1 percent to 1.45 billion won, Myungmoon Pharm’s Ceptpezil showed growth of 33.7 percent to 1.22 billion won, and Whan In Pharm’s Donepezil climbed 9.9 percent to 1.15 billion won.
On the other hand, Dong-A ST’s Aridone saw its prescription amount drop 9.4 percent, from 1.25 billion won to 1.13 billion won, showing a downward performance along with Neutoin.