Novartis has failed to restore the sales of Exelon, a patch for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, even six months after the resumption of the drug reimbursement.

From Aug. 24, 2017, to February 23, 2018, the health authorities ordered a suspension of the reimbursement of Exelon. Industry watchers forecast that rival generic drugs would benefit from the reimbursement suspension of the Novartis’ medicine.

Industry data showed that Novartis could not pull off Exelon’s revenue this year as much as it used to.

According to data from market researcher UBIST, outpatient prescriptions of Exelon recorded 190 million won ($166,643) in September, less than one-fourth of 840 million won recorded in June last year. In July last year, the number stood at 680 million won.

Even though Exelon started to be covered by insurance again from March, its monthly revenue dropped by more than 80 percent compared to a year earlier.

While prescriptions of Exelon declined, those of major generic drugs went up in recent months, except for September.

Myungin Pharmaceutical’s Riselton, a generic medicine for Alzheimer’s, used to have 52 million won and 61 million won prescriptions in June and July last year, respectively. However, the generic drug recorded more than 100 million won monthly prescriptions during the reimbursement suspension on Exelon.

Even after the resumption of the reimbursement for Exelon, the generic drug Riselton posted 220 million won prescriptions in August, and 170 million won in September.

Another generic patch Wondron, sold by SK Chemicals, also more than doubled in monthly sales from 50 million won to 170 million won in August due to the suspension of the reimbursement on Exelon. The number slightly went down to 130 million won in September.

C-TRI’s Exel C Cap., which used to sell 40 million won per month, posted 980 million won prescriptions in July, 810 million won in August, and 700 million won in September.

Exelon’s monthly prescription sales plummeted to 51 million won in March, down 94 percent from a year earlier. The figures continued to remain at low levels – 86 million won in April (89 percent down year-on-year), 140 million won in May (83 percent down), 160 million on in June (80 percent down), and 180 million won in July (73 percent down).

hwz@docdocdoc.co.kr

<© Korea Biomedical Review, All rights reserved.>