Daewoong Pharmaceutical (CEO & President Jeon Seng-ho) recently acquired rights to sell Merck’s antihypertensive drug, raising expectations of it becoming a powerhouse in the circulatory disease market.

Daewoong and Merck Korea signed a domestic sales agreement for cardiovascular disease drug Concor (ingredient bisoprolol) in November.

Under the contract, Daewoong will head sales activities such as the promotion of Concor and the management of salesforce and operations. Merck will maintain rights to the approved product. 

Concor is a beta-blocker that blocks β-adrenergic receptors that hold indications for various diseases depending on the dose. Concor 5mg is indicated for hypertension and angina, while the 2.5mg and 5mg Concor are indicated for stable chronic heart failure (CHF) with compromised left ventricular contractions, among others.

The 5mg dose of Concor gained domestic reimbursement starting in March 2001 after it was approved in 2000.

Daewoong Pharm, noted for having one of the most robust sales operations in the business, is expected to strengthen its competitiveness in the circulatory market with the signing of the domestic sales contract for Merck’s Concor.

Aside from Merck, Daewoong sells multiple circulatory disease drugs from several global pharmaceutical companies in Korea.

Daewoong holds sales rights to AstraZeneca’s dyslipidemia drug Crestor (ingredient rosuvastatin). It also sells Daiichi Sankyo’s antihypertension drug Sevikar (ingredient amlodipine/olmesartan), Sevikar HCT (ingredient amlodipine/olmesartan/hydrochlorothiazide), and Olmetec (ingredient olmesartan). Daewoong also sells Daiichi Sankyo’s non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant Lixiana (ingredient edoxaban).

The firm also sells in-house developed incrementally modified drugs of Olmetec. These include Olostar (ingredient olmesartan/rosuvastatin) and Olomax (ingredient amlodipine/olmesartan/rosuvastatin).

According to UBIST data, Daewoong totaled 220 billion won in 2018 for prescription sales of these circulatory disease drugs.

Circulatory disease drugs are expected to continue its sales streak with Olomax reaching 800 million won in prescription sales within five months of being on the market and Merck’s Concor, also released last year, raising 15.3 billion won in prescription sales.

“Daewoong will endeavor to contribute to improving the treatment of patients suffering from circulatory diseases based on a differentiated four-step marketing strategy and superior sales force,” the company said.