Celltrion Accelerates US Entry with 'Jimpenetra'... Secures Additional Major PBM Contracts

Contracts Signed with Two of the 3 Major PBMs
Third Also "Contracting Soon"
Coverage Exceeds 80% When Targeting All 3 Major PBMs
Seo Jeong-jin: "Jimpentra Can Achieve Annual Sales of at Least 5 Trillion Won"

Celltrion's new autoimmune disease treatment drug, Jimptetra (the U.S. launch name for Remsima SC), is accelerating its entry into the U.S. market by consecutively succeeding in targeting U.S. pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).

Celltrion announced on the 1st that "after signing a listing contract for Jimptetra with Express Scripts, one of the top three PBMs in the U.S., we signed another listing contract with one of the other top three PBMs on the 30th of last month (local time)." However, they stated, "Due to contract terms, it is difficult to specify the particular PBM at this time." Previously, Celltrion also disclosed the name of the PBM three weeks after announcing the contract signing with Express Scripts.

Jimptetra is accelerating its U.S. market penetration by leveraging its convenience as "the world's only infliximab subcutaneous injection." The active ingredient in Jimptetra, infliximab, has proven efficacy and safety for inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Existing drugs with this ingredient have only been released as intravenous injections that require hospital or clinic visits. Given the reality in the U.S., where visiting medical institutions is not easy, there has been strong market demand for a subcutaneous injection formulation that patients can self-administer.

Smooth Progress in U.S. Entry by Targeting 'Pre-Gate' PBMs

Listing on PBMs is essential for practical market penetration. In the U.S. pharmaceutical market, drugs sold must be listed in the "formulary," a drug list managed by PBMs on behalf of public and private insurance. If Jimptetra is not on the formulary of the patient's insurance plan, the patient must bear the full cost of the drug themselves to use Jimptetra.

Currently, the U.S. PBM market is dominated by three major PBMs?Express Scripts, CVS Caremark, and OptumRx?whose combined market share is about 80%. Celltrion succeeded in signing a contract with Express Scripts, which has about 24% market share and covers 100 million subscribers nationwide, from the early stages of Jimptetra's launch. In addition to this recent contract with another major PBM, Celltrion stated, "We plan to sign a listing contract with the remaining major PBM in the near future." Previously, Kim Hyung-gi, Vice Chairman of Celltrion in charge of sales, also said, "We expect to list Jimptetra on all three major PBMs within this year." With these three major PBMs alone, coverage of about 80% of the U.S. insurance market can be secured, and combined with contracts with other small and medium PBMs, Jimptetra is expected to be supplied practically nationwide in the U.S.

Since June, insurance reimbursements through contracts with PBMs have actually been taking place for Jimptetra. Even before reimbursement, for patients enrolled in PBMs where formulary listing had not yet been completed, Celltrion supplied the product free of charge through a start program or supported patients first without reimbursement by having doctors assess patient conditions and apply for prior approval from insurers, thereby laying the foundation for actual sales expansion.

According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market research firm, the size of the inflammatory bowel disease market in the U.S., which Jimptetra is currently focusing on, is estimated at $10.3 billion (about 14 trillion KRW). Celltrion plans to secure more than a 10% market share by next year. Beyond that, if it succeeds in building a foundation for accelerating sales through increased conversion rates to the subcutaneous injection formulation and a surge in registered patients, annual sales exceeding 2 trillion KRW are also expected. Seo Jung-jin, Chairman of Celltrion Group, who is directly overseeing Jimptetra's U.S. entry while residing in the U.S., expressed confidence in Jimptetra, saying, "It can generate annual sales of up to 3 trillion KRW within three years," and "Even conservatively, it is a product that can reach up to 5 trillion KRW."

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