Price competition is intensifying in South Korea's obesity drug market after global drugmaker Novo Nordisk moved to have its weight-loss treatment Wegovy covered by the national health insurance program. Attention is also turning to whether prices will fall further, with forecasts that Hanmi Pharmaceutical's domestically developed obesity drug Efe — expected to launch as early as this month — could enter the market in the 100,000-won range.
Novo Nordisk Korea recently submitted an application to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service seeking a reimbursement decision for Wegovy, according to the pharmaceutical industry. The move is aimed at improving treatment access for patients with severe obesity who also have related conditions.
Wegovy is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity treatment. It can be used for weight management in patients with severe obesity or in overweight patients with conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia or cardiovascular disease. Adolescents aged 12 and older are also eligible.
A Novo Nordisk official said the company has worked to improve the treatment environment so that more obesity patients can receive appropriate care since Wegovy's launch, adding that the latest application is an extension of those efforts. The official said the company will cooperate fully with the reimbursement review process and will continue working to address unmet treatment needs among obesity patients and raise awareness of related diseases.
If insurance coverage is granted, the amount patients pay for the drug could decrease. It remains uncertain, however, whether the application will result in actual coverage.
The application comes as competition in the obesity drug market grows fiercer. Eli Lilly's weight-loss treatment Mounjaro has been expanding its presence in the domestic market, and the launch of Hanmi Pharmaceutical's Efe is imminent.
Novo Nordisk sharply lowered Wegovy's price in August last year, when Mounjaro launched in Korea. This time, the company appears to be responding to price competition by pursuing insurance coverage ahead of Efe's launch.
Efe's price is seen as another key variable for the market. Hanmi Pharmaceutical is in final discussions to set its supply price. The company is weighing the decision carefully, as it seeks to maintain its principle of improving treatment access while also taking into account the product's symbolic significance and market conditions.
Industry officials expect the four-week supply price for Efe could be set in the 100,000-won range at the lowest dose. Four-week supplies of Wegovy and Mounjaro currently cost around 200,000 won. If Efe launches in the 100,000-won range as expected, it could draw attention as an alternative that eases the drug cost burden on patients.
The actual cost to patients, however, may differ from the supply price depending on prescription and sales conditions.
A Hanmi Pharmaceutical official said the decision on the supply price has become a burden amid a flood of speculation in the media and online, adding that the company will set the price after comprehensively considering market conditions, the product's clinical value and supply circumstances.