Samsung Bioepis and Samil Pharmaceutical Launch 'Half-Price Eye Drops' Apilibu

Samil Pharmaceutical announced on the 29th that it will launch Apilibu, a macular degeneration treatment developed by Samsung Bioepis, on the 1st of next month. The price has been significantly reduced to about half compared to existing treatments, which is expected to greatly reduce the financial burden on patients.

Samsung Bioepis's macular degeneration treatment 'Apilibu'
Photo by Samil Pharmaceutical

Apilibu is a biosimilar developed as a counterpart to Eylea, a macular degeneration treatment developed by Regeneron in the United States. Macular degeneration is considered a representative cause of blindness. Blood and other fluids leaking from abnormally grown capillaries in the macula, the central part of the retina, adhere to the retina and obscure vision. Therefore, treatments such as Eylea, which inhibits new blood vessel growth, or similar mechanism antibody treatments like Lucentis, must be administered periodically to suppress disease progression.

In particular, aging is a major cause, and with global aging, the incidence is increasing significantly worldwide. Global market research firm GlobalData forecasts that the macular degeneration treatment market in the seven major G7 countries, including the United States, France, and Germany, will grow from $7.4 billion in 2021 to $27.5 billion (approximately 38 trillion KRW) by 2031. Eylea is also considered a global blockbuster, having generated total sales of 17 trillion KRW last year.

With the patent expiration of Eylea approaching, Samsung Bioepis successfully obtained domestic approval for Apilibu in February. The price has been set at 350,000 KRW per vial. Compared to the original drug Eylea, which is sold domestically at 708,740 KRW per vial, the price has been reduced by more than half. Domestic sales will be handled by Samil Pharmaceutical, the domestic sales partner that also markets Amelibu, a biosimilar of Lucentis approved in 2022. Amelibu was launched in January last year and is also sold at a significantly lower price of 350,000 KRW compared to the original Lucentis product priced at 578,362 KRW.

Heo Seung-beom, Chairman of Samil Pharmaceutical, said, “Following the continuous partnership with Samsung Bioepis, we have acquired the distribution rights for a new macular degeneration treatment ingredient, Apilibu, following Amelibu. We expect to expand the choices available to patients and medical professionals and create synergy based on the cooperative experience between the two companies.”

Park Sang-jin, Vice President and Head of Commercial Division at Samsung Bioepis, also said, “By launching Apilibu through Samil Pharmaceutical following Amelibu, we can provide more treatment opportunities using high-quality pharmaceuticals to patients with ophthalmic diseases in Korea. We will continue to strive to enhance patient benefits by expanding biosimilar prescriptions.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.