Daiichi Sankyo’s Lixiana, a latecomer in the non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), is accelerating its chase after BMS’ Eliquis. The local NOAC market is expanding as NOACs are considered as next-generation anticoagulants to replace warfarin products.

According to data from U-BIST, a pharmaceutical market researcher, all of the top four anticoagulants were NOACs in the first half of the year.

Lixiana’s prescriptions ranked third after Eliquis among the four NOACs, but the gap between the two was small. Lixiana sales in the first half marked a three-digit growth rate from a year earlier, raising the chance that it might outrival Eliquis in the second half.

Bayer Korea’s Xarelto ranked first with 21.7 billion won ($19 million) outpatient prescriptions in the anticoagulant market in the first half, up 18.6 percent from 18.3 billion won a year earlier.

If Xarelto maintains its growth momentum, it is expected to post more than 40 billion won prescriptions this year. In 2017, its annual sales reached 38.1 billion won.

Prescriptions of the No. 2 Eliquis rose 34.9 percent year-on-year to 15.2 billion won in the first half of this year from 11.3 billion won a year earlier.

Lixiana, the latest NOAC to be released on the market, ranked third. However, it might take over the No. 2 position with rapid sales growth because Daiichi Sankyo recently chose Daewoong Pharmaceutical as a partner for Lixiana marketing.

Prescriptions of Lixiana surged 104 percent to 14.8 billion won in the first half from 7.2 billion won a year earlier.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s Pradaxa was the only drug among the four NOACs to suffer a decline in prescriptions. Pradaxa sales fell 12.8 percent to 8.2 billion won in the first half from 9.4 billion won a year earlier.

“NOACs, which complement the shortcomings of warfarin, are spreading in the market quickly. Warfarin, a low-priced medicine costing less than 20 won per tablet, does not yield sales much. So, we have to watch which NOAC will absorb the warfarin market,” a pharmaceutical source said.

sjh@docdocdoc.co.kr

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