Contraceptive market faces reshuffle with new pills, sales rights transfers

The Korean oral contraceptive market will likely be reorganized with the transfer of sales rights and the launch of new drugs.

Geo-Young and Alvogen Korea said Monday that they signed a domestic sales and distribution agreement for Merciron Tablets (desogestrel-ethinyl estradiol). Mercilon is a steady-selling over-the-counter (OTC) drug that has ranked No. 1 in the Korean market for 14 consecutive years based on drug distribution performance.

With this agreement, Geo-Young has secured exclusive sales and distribution rights for Mercilon Tablets, which generates annual sales of 7 billion won ($4.8 million). Chong Kun Dang has handled the rights to Mercilon for five years since 2019 but transferred them to Geo-Young, which will begin selling to pharmacies and wholesalers nationwide this month.

Geo-Young, which has recently expanded its business beyond drug distribution to sales and marketing, expressed confidence that its drug distribution capabilities and pharmacy penetration will play a synergistic role.

Chong Kun Dang maintains that it has not decided on plans regarding oral contraceptives.

In addition, changes are expected in the contraceptive market as existing products are discontinued and new products are launched.

Last year, Boryung Consumer Healthcare and Kwangdong Pharmaceutical discontinued Soonari and Sunhana Tablets. Both products emphasize a single ingredient: desogestrel, a third-generation progestin (synthetic progesterone) with few side effects.

Notably, they were touted as a new option for smokers over 35 because they did not contain estrogen. Contrary to expectations, however, the companies withdrew their product from the market two years after their launch due to poor sales performance.

Hyundai Pharm, on the other hand, is preparing to enter the market by applying to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Dec. 16 for an item license for Nextela Tablets 3/15 milligrams.

Nextela is the first oral contraceptive pill to combine drospirenone, a fourth-generation progestin, and estetrol, a natural estrogen, and has demonstrated contraceptive effectiveness with a Pearl Index of 0.47 in phase 3 clinical trials in Europe and Russia.

A bridging study in healthy Korean adult women confirmed similar pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties between Westerners and Koreans. The U.S. FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the drug in 2021.

Hyundai Pharm plans to launch the product in Korea after the approval of the domestic license.

“It will be a new contraceptive pill with a new ingredient in the Korean market, which will be a new treatment to meet unmet medical needs,” Hyundai Pharm said in a public disclosure.