Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Thursday that Fexuclue's prescription sales grew 57 percent year over year to 17 billion won ($12.4 million) in the first quarter of this year.

According to drug statistics and information UBIST, seven products in the second-generation PPI series recorded negative growth among the top 10 prescriptions for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In contrast, all of the third-generation P-CAB series products recorded sales growth.

In particular, Fexuclue recorded the highest growth rate among the top 10 GERD drugs in Korea, with a growth rate of 57%.

Fexuclue is a homegrown new drug launched by Daewoong Pharmaceutical in July 2022 and has grown into a blockbuster with cumulative prescriptions of 83.3 billion won as of March. In its second year on the market, it has jumped to second place in the GERD treatment market, driving the growth of the P-CAB class. According to UBIST, P-CAB prescriptions amounted to 63.8 billion won in the first quarter of last year, more than double the amount in the first quarter of 2022 (31.1 billion won) before the launch of Fexuclue.

According to Daewoong, the company’s third-generation GERD drug is growing rapidly because it improves on the shortcomings of first- and second-generation gastrointestinal drugs.

The first generation of H2RA (histamine-2 receptor antagonist) drugs, developed in the 1970s, had many limitations. For instance, they only partially inhibit gastric acid secretion by targeting only one of the three pathways involved in acid secretion. Second-generation PPIs (proton pump inhibitors), which were introduced in the 1980s, require stomach acid to be activated, which paradoxically makes them less effective and takes longer to work. Also, they need to be taken before meals for maximum effectiveness.

On the other hand, Daewoong Pharmaceutical's Fexuclue, a third-generation P-CAB, has been the fastest-growing drug in recent years because it works quickly and reliably to inhibit stomach acid secretion. Its half-life is nine hours, the longest among GERD drugs. As such, it has a long-lasting effect, significantly relieving nighttime heartburn symptoms, according to Daewoong.

"As P-CABs are emerging as the mainstream in the gastrointestinal drug market, Fexuclue is playing a leading role in driving growth," Daewoong Pharmaceutical President and Co-CEO Lee Chang-jae said. "We will achieve the number one position in the domestic gastrointestinal drug market through collaboration with Chong Kun Dang this year, as well as expanding the indications for gastritis and accelerate our efforts to achieve sales of 300 billion won by 2030."

Meanwhile, Daewoong Pharmaceutical recently announced that it would jointly market Fexuclue with Chong Kun Dang. Daewoong expects the move to create synergistic effects once sales and marketing begin earnestly. Daewoong also expects the prescription volume of Fexuclue to grow significantly once the reimbursement for gastritis indication is expanded in the second half of this year.