LG Chem kick-starts sales of Enbrel biosimilar in Korea

LG Chem, the chemicals and biopharma business unit of South Korea’s LG Group, said Thursday that it has officially begun selling its Enbrel-referencing biosimilar, Eucept, in Korea.

Eucept is the first monoclonal antibody drug developed by LG Chem. It was approved by Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in March for the treatment of conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis and psoriasis.

As marketing and sales activities are now kicking off, LG Chem said it hopes to tackle the local Enbrel (etanercept) market estimated at 20 billion won ($17.84 million) with a clinical trial safety record catered to local patients and drug administration convenience.

The Korean drugmaker plans to highlight Eucept’s reliability and safety based on phase 3 clinical trial data for the drug it has collected from 186 patients in 30 local hospitals since 2014.

It is also betting on the Eucept’s convenient design to win customers. Unlike competitors, Eucept is designed as an autoinjector with slimmer needles, making the injection procedure easier and less painful for patients who have to self-inject the drugs regularly.

Eucept’s insurance-backed prices in Korea are 59,950 won for the 25-milligram syringe/0.5-milliliter option, and 109,000 won for the 50-milligram syringe/1.0 milliliter and 50-milligram autoinjector/1.0-milliliter options, LG Chem said.

Eucept is the second Enbrel biosimilar to be launched in Korea. It comes three years after Samsung Bioepis’ Enbrel biosimilar, sold here under the name Brenzys, which was approved in Korea in 2015.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)