Celltrion's autoimmune disease treatment "Remsima injection" ranked No. 1 in domestic pharmaceutical production value for the second straight year.
On the 14th, according to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry and the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS), as of September this year, last year's production value of "Remsima injection 100 mg" was estimated at about 380 billion won. It is the highest among the top 20 domestic pharmaceuticals. Remsima injection also ranked No. 1 in 2023 with a production value of about 230 billion won. In one year, the production value increased by about 63%.
Remsima is the world's first antibody biosimilar developed by Celltrion and is used to treat autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Last year's global sales topped 1 trillion won.
Second and third in production value were HK inno.N's "K-CAB tablet 50 mg" and Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co.'s "Nabota injection," respectively. The two products' production values last year were about 173 billion won and 170 billion won, respectively, and in 2023 they ranked fifth and sixth by production value.
K-CAB is a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) class treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease and is the 30th new drug in Korea. Since its domestic launch in 2019, cumulative prescription sales reached 810.1 billion won through the first half of this year. It recently succeeded in a U.S. phase 3 trial and is preparing to file for FDA approval.
Nabota is a botulinum toxin product that was launched in Korea in 2014. In 2019, it became the first in Asia to win U.S. FDA approval. It has been approved in several regions, including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and recently expanded into 10 of 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
By 2023 production value, second and third were Dong-A ST's growth hormone "Grotropin Two injection solution cartridge" and LG CHEM's "Utropin S pen injection."
According to KOSIS, the number of pharmaceutical manufacturers and total production value also increased. The number of active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturers rose 6.4% year over year to 315 last year, and production value increased 16.8% to about 4 trillion won. The number of finished drug manufacturers edged down to 400, but production value rose 5.9% to 28.46 trillion won.