Korea's 1st homegrown obesity drug likely to intensify price competition
Korea’s first homegrown obesity drug could shake up a market dominated by Mounjaro and Wegovy, an industry official said, as more Koreans travel to Japan to obtain cheaper Mounjaro and bring it home illegally, driven by the high cost of obesity treatments in Korea. Chung Sang-won, director of pharmacy innovation at the Korea Pharmaceutical Association, said the launch of Eppe, Korea’s first…
Korea’s first homegrown obesity drug, Eppe, is set to disrupt the market dominated by overseas treatments such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, according to Chung Sang-won, director of pharmacy innovation at the Korea Pharmaceutical Association. This development comes as more Koreans are traveling to Japan to obtain Mounjaro at lower prices, driven by the high cost of obesity treatments in Korea.
Chung emphasized that Eppe could intensify price competition in the market, similar to what was observed in China. He pointed out that Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro experienced a significant price drop of up to 66 percent in China, falling from 1,758 yuan ($262) to 599 yuan. Likewise, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy also saw a substantial price reduction in the Chinese market.
This trend of price cuts in China was driven by the entry of domestically developed GLP-1-based obesity treatments, such as Innovent Biologics’ mazdutide, a dual glucagon and GLP-1 receptor agonist, which received approval from Chinese authorities in 2025. Sciwind Biosciences’ ecnogl is also in the pipeline, adding to the competition in the Chinese obesity drug market.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
