In mid-January, U.S. Eli Lilly's obesity treatment 'Mounjaro (active ingredient tirzepatide)' is expected to be supplied at a price about 25% lower than that of its competitor, Denmark's Novo Nordisk's 'Wegovy (semaglutide).' Lilly is likely to aggressively target the domestic market with its price competitiveness.
According to the industry on the 7th, Korea Lilly has set the domestic supply price for 2.5 mg (four-week supply) of Mounjaro at 278,000 won. Currently, the ex-factory price of Wegovy is about 372,000 won, making Mounjaro 25% cheaper.
Both Mounjaro and Wegovy are obesity treatments administered via injection once a week. They are drugs that mimic the glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 hormone, originally developed as diabetes treatments to promote the secretion of insulin, which regulates blood sugar, but have evolved into weight loss medications as their weight reduction effects have been confirmed.
Mounjaro is a dual-action agent that simultaneously acts on GLP-1 receptors and gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) receptors, and is evaluated to have a greater weight loss effect than Wegovy, which is a single-action GLP-1 agent. In the U.S., Mounjaro is sold under the product name 'Zepbound' as a diabetes treatment and as Mounjaro as an obesity treatment, but it will be released uniformly as Mounjaro in the domestic market.
Both drugs start treatment at a dosage of 2.5 mg, increasing the dose by 2.5 mg every four weeks, up to a maximum of 15 mg. The domestic launch of Mounjaro includes the lower dosages of 2.5 mg and 5 mg as a priority.
Mounjaro is also sold at a lower price than Wegovy in the U.S. The monthly list price is $1,069 (1,481,000 won) for Mounjaro and $1,349 (1,869,000 won) for Wegovy, showing a difference of about 21%. There are interpretations that the domestic prices will reflect these price differences in the U.S.
In Korea, obesity treatments are non-reimbursable drugs not covered by health insurance, meaning that the supply price set by pharmaceutical companies significantly impacts the monthly treatment costs borne by patients at hospitals and clinics. Currently, Wegovy is being administered at around 500,000 to 600,000 won per month, primarily at outpatient facilities.
However, the industry believes that while the 2.5 mg dose of Mounjaro may be priced lower than Wegovy, the 5 mg product is likely to form a price similar to Wegovy at about 369,000 won. Lilly has previously stated that it would supply prices differently according to dosage, and there are predictions that high-dosage products may have prices similar to or even higher than Wegovy.
An industry official noted, "While Mounjaro is price-competitive compared to Wegovy at the initial dosage level, that difference may shrink as the dosage increases," adding, "Because the pricing structure varies by dosage, it is not simply considered cheaper than Wegovy."