Inhibitors of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4), used to treat diabetes, have recorded a robust sales expansion in the domestic market last month with homemade drugs leading the growth.

According to data from UBIST, the total sales of DPP-4 inhibitors amounted to 48.9 billion won ($40.2 million) in July, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier.

Among the DPP-4 inhibitors, those by LG Chem, Handok, Dong-A ST, and JW Pharmaceutical led the overall market growth.

LG Chem’s Zemiglo-group drugs posted 8.9 billion won sales in July, up 18.2 percent year-on-year. Thanks to the double-digit sales growth of Zemimet, Zemiglo drugs are closely chasing after Boehringer Ingelheim’s Trajenta lineups, ranked at second in sales among DPP-4 inhibitors.

Sales of Handok’s Tenelia-related drugs demonstrated a substantial 25.9 percent increase to hit 3.3 billion won in July. Tenelia and Tenelia M also recorded 22.1 percent and 29.5 percent sales growth, respectively.

Dong-A ST’s Suganon-group drugs, which are expected to sell over 10 billion won this year for the first time, achieved an excellent performance in July. Sales of Sugamet, in particular, doubled last month, compared to a year earlier. As Suganon medicines have sold 8 billion won until July this year, they are predicted to post over 10 billion won sales this year and become a blockbuster drug. On the back of the fast growth of Sugamet, Dong-A ST outperformed JW Pharmaceutical for the first time this year.

JW Pharmaceutical’s Guardlet also showed a steady rise in sales. The drug sold 1.2 billion won last month, up 19.5 percent from a year earlier.

DPP-4 inhibitors’ market leader MSD and other multinational firms, including Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Takeda, and AstraZeneca, saw their DPP-4 inhibitors prescribed more this year, compared to last year.

MSD’s Januvia lineups sold 14.3 billion won, up 7.9 percent year-on-year, and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Trajenta-group drugs, 10.6 billion won, up 9.8 percent. The prescription sales of the two drugs accounted for about half of the total sales of DDP-4 inhibitors.

The performance of Novartis’ Galvus lineup was relatively weak. Sales of Galvus drugs went up 3.6 percent on-year in July, but the growth was the slowest among rival medications.

Peer drugs of Takeda and AstraZeneca recorded 9.1 percent and 8.3 percent on-year growth in sales in July, continuing a gradual expansion.

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