“Half the price of Mounjaro!”... Korean-made obesity drug Epe expected to cost 130,000 won

[Financial News] The supply price for the first month’s doses of Epe, Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s soon-to-be-launched glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity treatment, is expected to be around 130,000 won.
According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 14th, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is said to have set Epe’s supply prices at 24,200 won for 2 mg, 40,700 won for 4 mg, 57,200 won for 6 mg, 69,300 won for 8 mg and 74,800 won for 10 mg.
However, Hanmi Pharmaceutical said it could not disclose the supply price because it differs from the actual price patients are charged for prescriptions and disclosure could cause confusion.
Epe is administered starting at 2 mg, with the dose increased to 4 mg, 6 mg and 8 mg over 12 weeks, after which patients continue on a 10 mg dose.
With this regimen, the estimated supply price for the first month, during which patients take 2 mg twice and 4 mg twice, is 129,800 won.
Over the following eight weeks, patients take 6 mg four times and 8 mg four times, respectively. In this case, Epe’s supply price is 228,800 won for weeks 5–8 and 277,200 won for weeks 9–12. Four doses of 10 mg would cost 299,200 won at the supply price.
Developed by Hanmi Pharmaceutical using its proprietary platform technology, LAPSCOVERY, Epe is the first domestically developed GLP-1 obesity treatment to receive approval in Korea.
With foreign products Mounjaro, from Eli Lilly and Company, and Wegovy, from Novo Nordisk, having gained an early lead in the market, Hanmi Pharmaceutical was expected to tout price competitiveness as one of Epe’s strengths.
If the supply price for Epe’s first month of doses is indeed set at around 130,000 won, it would be half the roughly 270,000-won price for a four-week supply of Mounjaro at the lowest dose. Wegovy is priced at around 210,000 won.
A Hanmi Pharmaceutical representative said, “Epe is a prescription-only medicine not covered by health insurance,” adding, “The amount patients pay may vary depending on the medical institution where they receive care and the circumstances of the prescription.”
The representative added, “We view obesity as an important disease that threatens public health,” and, “In line with the aim of developing Epe to provide a new treatment option for obesity, we set the price with patient access as our top priority.”
[email protected] An Gaeul Reporter