Korean demand for GSK's Shingrix weaker than expected: dermatologists

GSK’s Shingrix, which many industry watchers expected would change the landscape of the Korean shingles vaccine market with the January launch, is actually facing a weaker-than-expected demand due to its high price, local dermatologists said.

Shingrix prevents shingles in adults over 50 or people over 18 who are at high or expected to have an increased risk of shingles due to reduced immunity or immunosuppression.

Given that Shingrix shows a prevention rate of over 90 percent in all age groups over the age of 50, which is far superior compared to its competitors such as MSD's Zostavax and SK Bioscience's Skyzoster, industry watchers expected that Shingrix would take over the local market after its launch.

MSD's Zostavax showed a 51 and 41 percent disease prevention effect in patients over 50 and 70 years of age, respectively. SK Bioscience's Skyzoster does not have separate disease prevention effect figures. However, as Skyzoster received approval after passing a non-inferiority test with Zostavax, the disease prevention effect of Skyzoster is likely similar to that of Zostavax.

In other countries, Shingrix quickly snatched a large market share.

After its release in the U.S. in 2017, Shingrix rapidly eroded the market share of Zostavax and controlled 98 percent of the U.S. market in just a year of its launch. The vaccine holds a 100 percent market share in some countries including Canada.

In Korea, however, Korean patients are uneager to receive Shingrix due to its expensive price tag, dermatologists said. 

"While Zostavax costs 150,000 won ($117) for a single inoculation at my clinic, Shingrix costs 250,000 won per inoculation, and considering that patients who receive Shingrix have to receive the vaccine twice, it costs a total of 500,000 won," a dermatologist running a clinic in Gyeonggi Province said. "Even after I explain that the prevention rate of Shingles is much more superior compared to Zostavax, patients are opting to receive Zostavax."

Another dermatologist who runs a clinic in Songpa-gu, Seoul, also stressed that Zostavax has previously proved that it reduces the burden of illness and postherpetic neuralgia if a patient gets shingles post-vaccination.

"On top of the 50 percent prevention effect and considering the price difference, patients are opting for Zostavax instead of Shingrix," the doctor said.

However, the doctor explained that considering the deterioration in the quality of life and pain that can occur when someone gets shingles, receiving Shingrix was worthwhile.

"Still, a doctor cannot decide what vaccination the patient should receive, and if a patient decides that they don't want Shingrix, there is not much I can do," he said. "I'm contemplating whether I should keep stocking Shingrix if the demand is so low."

Meanwhile, during a press conference celebrating the launch of Shingrix last December, GSK Korea said that the price of Shingrix was set after careful consideration of its efficacy and socio-economic effects on complications after the onset of shingles.