March Prescription Share Reaches 64% in Japan, According to IQVIA and Local Data
Celltrion Vegzelma product (Provided by Celltrion)
Celltrion is making smooth progress by improving its biosimilar prescription performance in Japan.
According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market research firm, and local data, it was confirmed that Vegzelma (ingredient name: bevacizumab), a treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, recorded a 64% market share based on prescription volume in Japan in March this year. After exceeding a majority of the market with a 50% share in September last year, it showed a steep growth trend by rising more than 14% in about half a year.
The reason Vegzelma’s performance in Japan is receiving attention is that it succeeded in preoccupying the market by overcoming the limitation of being a latecomer released last. Even though Vegzelma was launched at the end of 2022, nearly two years later than first-mover competing biosimilars in Japan, it succeeded in taking the number one market share by putting product competitiveness and sales strategies at the forefront. This is highly evaluated as a valuable achievement gained amidst a fiercely competitive landscape involving a total of five bevacizumab drugs, including the original Avastin.
The active utilization of the Japanese medical system, which is favorable to biosimilars, during the business process played a key role in the rapid success of Vegzelma. In particular, the analysis is that the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) system applied to anticancer drugs had a positive effect on the expansion of prescriptions. Under the DPC system, hospitals can increase profitability by using anticancer drugs with high price competitiveness, and the government and patients can also lower their financial burden and out-of-pocket expenses by using products with low drug prices. This means that all stakeholder groups, including hospitals, the government, and patients, enjoy benefits through the use of biosimilars. The DPC system also had a significant impact on Herzuma (ingredient name: trastuzumab), another flagship anticancer drug of Celltrion, firmly maintaining its number one position with a 76% market share.
Achievements are continuing not only in anticancer drugs but also in the field of autoimmune diseases. Celltrion’s representative products, Remsima (ingredient name: infliximab) and Yuflyma (ingredient name: adalimumab), are maintaining their leading positions in biosimilar prescriptions in Japan with market shares of 44% and 19%, respectively.
Celltrion’s strategy is to strengthen the synergy of all its autoimmune disease products through the expansion of sales products. As Aptozma (ingredient name: tocilizumab) was launched at the end of last month, a total of four Celltrion autoimmune disease product lines, including Steqeyma (ingredient name: ustekinumab), are currently being sold in Japan. Because prescribing physicians often overlap within the same disease group, the plan is to achieve early market settlement for newly launched product lines by actively utilizing existing sales experience and know-how.
Celltrion’s market influence is expected to become even more solid in the future. Omlyclo (ingredient name: omalizumab), which obtained product approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in March this year, is being prepared with the goal of a launch in the second half of the year, and Remsima SC, the world’s only subcutaneous (SC) injection formulation treatment of infliximab, is also planning to enter Japan. Using marketing synergy with existing products as a stepping stone, the growth trend for both new and old products is expected to steepen.
An official from Celltrion said, “We will do our best to ensure that the new products being fully launched starting this year also inherit the achievements of the existing product lines and achieve stable market settlement.”
Choi Mun-hee
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