Patient Convenience and Revenue Increase: Catching 'Two Rabbits' with 'Dosage Form Change' [AK Radio]

Dosage Form Change Altering Drug Administration Method
Favorable for Patient Convenience Improvement and Market Expansion

The pharmaceutical industry is pursuing new innovations through changes in the formulations of existing drugs. Recently, news emerged that the medical tech company Lapas is developing a patch-type version of the obesity treatment drug 'Wegovy,' highlighting once again the importance of formulation changes. Formulation changes are gaining attention as a strategy that goes beyond simply altering the form of a drug, aiming to improve patients' quality of life while securing new growth engines for pharmaceutical companies.

Formulation change refers to altering the mode of administration of an existing drug. It is mainly attempted to enhance patient convenience, such as converting injectable drugs into oral medications or turning pills into liquid forms. Through this, pharmaceutical companies can increase patient adherence to medication, ultimately leading to improved treatment outcomes and increased sales.

The Wegovy patch being developed by Lapas is an innovative case where the existing injectable drug is changed into a form that adheres to the skin. Currently, Wegovy is administered as a once-weekly self-injection, but changing it to a patch that can be easily applied daily is expected to greatly improve patient convenience. This will be especially helpful for patients with needle phobia. Lapas plans to launch this patch-type product around 2026, coinciding with the expiration of Wegovy's substance patent, and aims to enter the global market through this.

A representative domestic pharmaceutical company that has achieved great success through formulation changes is Celltrion. Celltrion developed 'Remsima SC' by changing the autoimmune disease treatment drug 'Remsima' from an intravenous injection to a subcutaneous injection. Unlike the existing intravenous injection, this product allows patients to self-inject, reducing hospital visits. Through this innovation, Celltrion achieved remarkable success by surpassing the original drug 'Remicade' in market share in the European market.

Celltrion's success is evaluated as achieving true innovation beyond simple biosimilar development through formulation changes. It is analyzed that the switch to self-injection was effective especially in overseas medical environments where hospital visits are difficult. Celltrion holds patents for this formulation change technology until around 2040, and it is expected that this technology can be applied to various biopharmaceuticals in the future.

Another successful case of formulation change is Tylenol. Johnson & Johnson changed the existing pill form of Tylenol into a powder form, making it easier for children and adults who have difficulty swallowing pills to take the medication. Especially, by developing a powder form that can be taken without water, patient convenience was greatly enhanced. This is regarded as an innovative case that created a new market beyond a simple form change.

The directions of formulation changes can be broadly divided into several categories. For injectables, there is a trend of progressing from intravenous (IV) injections to subcutaneous (SC) injections, and then to self-injections. For oral drugs, the trend is changing from pills to liquid medicine, or from capsules to pills. In dermatological drugs, there are many cases of switching from oral medications to topical applications. All these changes are made to improve patient convenience and medication adherence.

Formulation changes are important not only because they alter the form of drugs but also because they can lead to the development of new technologies. For example, the technology developed in the process of converting injectables into patch forms can be applied to other drugs, potentially leading to additional innovations. Furthermore, if products developed through formulation changes are recognized as improved new drugs, they can receive higher prices than simple generics, making this an attractive strategy for pharmaceutical companies.

However, the possibility of price increases due to formulation changes is a concern from the consumer perspective. Pharmaceutical companies tend to set higher prices for new formulations to recover the costs invested in formulation changes and to gain additional profits. This can act as a factor limiting patient access, making appropriate pricing an important issue.

Industry insiders expect that innovation through formulation changes will continue in the future. Especially as society ages, demand for medications that are easy to take is expected to increase, further raising the importance of formulation changes. Additionally, with the advancement of digital healthcare technologies, new types of formulation changes such as smart drug delivery systems are also expected to emerge.

Pharmaceutical companies are expected to pursue patient-centered innovation through continuous research and development in line with these trends. In particular, as the biopharmaceutical market grows rapidly, attempts to secure competitiveness by changing the formulations of existing biopharmaceuticals are expected to increase.

In conclusion, formulation changes have established themselves as a new growth engine for the pharmaceutical industry and an important means to improve patients' quality of life. It will be necessary to pay attention to news and announcements related to formulation changes by pharmaceutical companies in the future, and industry trends can be understood through keywords such as 'formulation change,' 'medication adherence,' and 'improvement of medication convenience.' It is hoped that these efforts by the pharmaceutical industry will ultimately lead to improved patient quality of life and reduced medical costs.

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