Prescriptions for Efe Autoinjector (efpeglenatide), the first homegrown glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity treatment, will begin at some medical institutions around the 29th.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical disclosed the prescription date at a symposium for medical professionals held on the 22nd at the Shilla Seoul hotel in Seoul's Jung-gu district. The date comes 22 days after the drug won new-drug approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 7th. Non-medical personnel were barred from the event.
Hwang Sang-yeon, chief executive of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, described Efe as "the fruit of innovation and a new option for treating obesity." Efe is the 45th new drug developed in South Korea and the first domestically developed GLP-1 obesity treatment. It acts on GLP-1 receptors in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract to suppress appetite and slow the emptying of food from the stomach, prolonging a feeling of fullness.
The drug safety ministry approved the injection as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity for long-term weight management in adults who are obese or overweight and do not have diabetes. Approved doses are 2 milligrams, 4 mg, 6 mg, 8 mg and 10 mg. At the event, Hanmi Pharmaceutical said patients given Efe once a week showed an average weight loss of about 10% after 40 weeks.
The arrival of the domestic drug is expected to intensify competition in South Korea's GLP-1 obesity drug market, which has been dominated by Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk's Wegovy. The supply price for the first month of Efe treatment is reported to be around 130,000 won, about half the roughly 270,000 won supply price for a four-week course of Mounjaro at its lowest dose. Wegovy's supply price is in the low 200,000-won range.