LG Chem : new diabetes drug 'Zemiglo' has reached the highest sales among domestically developed drugs

LG Chem's new diabetes drug 'Zemiglo' has reached the highest sales among domestically developed drugs

■ Its accumulated sales have reached 106.2 billion won to this November, which is the only product that has exceeded 100 billion won in sales among other domestically developed new drugs

■ It has enjoyed 55% average annual growth since the launch at the end of 2012 by continuously improving its product competitiveness, etc.

□ It invested approximately 130 billion won solely in R&D and has continuously conducted comparison tests with competing products after the launch.

■ Planning to expand its combination treatment lineup based on Zemiglo and continue to develop it as the growing business of the Company

LG Chem's new diabetes drug 'Zemiglo' has reached the highest sales among domestically developed drugs.

Based on UBIST's outpatient prescription performance data, LG Chem announced on the 15th that its accumulated sales from the new diabetes drug 'Zemiglo' have reached 106.2 billion won to this November, which was the only product that has exceeded 100 billion won in sales among other domestically developed new drugs.

At present, Zemiglo is the only brand that has surpassed sales of 100 billion won among around 30 other domestically developed drugs.

Zemiglo is No.19 domestically developed drug which LG Chem started to develop in 2003 and launched at the end of 2012. Zemiglo generated sales of 5.6 billion won in the first year after its launch, exceeded 50 billion won in 2016, and recorded 100.8 billion in sales last year, and it has grown to become the leading domestically developed drug brand.

The sales volume of Zemiglo for the past 8 years is more than 700million tablets and its accumulated sales have reached approximately 500 billion won. If all the tablets that have ever been sold are horizontally lined up, it would be equivalent to a one-way flight distance from Inchon International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (around 11,000km).

■ Enjoying 55% average annual growth by continuously improving its product competitiveness, etc.

LG Chem has fostered its product competitiveness and expanded its sales capacity, and as a result of that Zemiglo has shown steady sales growth averaging 55% annually since its launch at the end of 2012.

Firstly, LG Chem invested around 50 billion won to develop Zemiglo and has continued to conduct comparison tests and development of combo agents, etc. by making a further investment of more than 80 billion won even after the launch.

From the above, it has demonstrated not only its excellent effect of dropping blood sugar levels and safety but also shown that it can reduce the risk of hypoglycemia by minimizing the blood sugar level fluctuation (fluctuation of the blood sugar level for 24 hours a day). Also, it has proven its convenience in prescription as it is now possible to prescribe a single dose for patients with kidney disorders, and further contributed to increased drug compliance (the degree of correspondence of the actual dosing history with prescribed regimen/dosage) by reducing the size of its combo agent.

Along with the above, LG Chem has also expanded its sales capacity by signing up a joint sales partnership with Daewoong Pharm, a leading firm in diabetic treatments, since 2016.

LG Chem plans to add and expand the product's lineup to develop Zemiglo as the leading growing business of the Company.

To achieve the above, LG Chem is currently undergoing Phase 3 of a clinical testing for a new antidiabetic combo agent that combines Zemiglo with the recent antidiabetic medicine, SGLT-2 inhibitors. The existing combo agents include Zemimet that combines Zemiglo with metformin, the first line antidiabetic agent, and Zemiro that additionally contains treatment properties for dyslipidemia, etc.

Jeewoong Son (Executive Vice President / President, Life Sciences) stated,

"the successful records of Zemiglo is significant as it shows customer recognition for innovation" and "we will strive harder to develop innovative new drugs that can contribute to improving the quality of life for patients.

[Reference] Sales progress of Zemiglo's line up (UBIST's data published as of December 2012, Unit: hundred million)

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020(E)

56

143

255

546

773

906

1,008

1,200