Boryung Pharma Group Chairman Kim Seung-ho, Boryung Pharma Chairperson Kim Eun-sun,
Boryung Pharma Presidnt Choi Tae-hong, and Harbin Gloria President Yang Hong-bing
participate in a ceremony to sign a licensing deal in which Boryung Pharma agreed with
China’s Harbin Gloria to export Kanarb® at the former’s headquarters in Wonam-dong, Seoul, on Jan. 9.
(photo: courtesy of Boryung Pharma, article by S. Y. Kim)
Kanarb®, the nation’s first new anti-hypertension drug produced by Boryung Pharma Co., will make a foray into the Chinese market, the first Korean new drug to enter the Chinese market.
Boryung Pharma signed a licensing deal with China’s Harbin Gloria to export Kanarb® at the former’s headquarters in Wonam-dong, Seoul, on Jan. 9.
Under the agreement, Boryung Pharma will have received $5.4 million in royalties in January, and it will guarantee the Korean pharmaceutical company sales of 428 million yuan (some 80.2 billion won) for the next decade in return for Harbin Gloria’s completion of a phase 3 study in China and the awarding of the exclusive right to market Kanarb® there.
Kanarb® is rated the most successful Korean-made new drugs to enter foreign markets. Boryung Pharma has so far signed licensing agreements with companies in 13 Central and Southern American countries, including Mexico and Brazil, as well as a deal in Russia, standing at a combined $114.6 million. The latest deal with Harbin Gloria will bring the total value of Boryung Pharma’s licensing agreements a step closer to the goal of surpassing $200 million.
Boryung Pharma Chairman Kim Seung-ho said, “We’ve made strenuous efforts for the past year to enter the Chinese market, and it was not easy to make it.”
Harbin Gloria President Yang Hong-bing said large-scale trial studies among Koreans show that Kanarb® has proved to be more effective in treating hypertension patients than other leading global drugs. He went on say that he was confident that such trials of Chinese would be successful.
The Chinese pharmaceutical market is growing fast. The market, whose value is now estimated at some 3 trillion won (about 16.6 billion yuan), is forecast to stand at an average annual growth rate of 12 percent by 2020. Norvatis’s Diovan, in the same class of Angiotensin II Receptor blockers (ARB) as Kanarb®, ranked first in the Chinese hypertension treatment market with 100 billion won in annual sales.
Chinese health authorities have strengthened restrictions on foreign multinational pharmaceutical companies and have tried to boost Chinese firms’ growth. Given the changing business conditions and Harbin Gloria’s marketing network, Boryung Pharma expects Kanarb® to seize a commanding market share within a decade.
Harbin Gloria has been growing at an annual average growth rate of more than 30 percent since 2000 when it entered the Chinese pharmaceutical market. It racked up 400 billion won in sales in 2012.
Boryung Pharma President Choi Tae-hong said, “We’ll achieve a global success story of making Kanarb® the number one hypertension drug in China.”
Among those on hand at the signing ceremony were Rep. Oh Jae-sae, chairman of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee; Deputy Minister Choi Young-hyun, in charge of health care policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW); Vice Minister Chang Byung-won of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety; and Chairman Lee Kyeong-ho of the Korean Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (KPMA).
MOHW Deputy Minister Choi said he expects Kanarb® to become a success story in the Chinese pharmaceutical market, which has emerged as the world’s third largest one through its excellent quality and price competitiveness.
KPMA Chairman Lee said Kanarb®, emerging as a success story among many Korean-made new drugs, is an example in which Korean firms can demonstrate a “can do” spirit in the global market.
