Maintaining Top Prescription Status and Proving Competitiveness
Celltrion's autoimmune disease treatments Stekima and Uplyma have consecutively won bids from Italian regional governments, demonstrating their competitiveness.
According to Celltrion on the 20th, 'Stekima,' launched in January this year, showed bidding results within two months. Celltrion's Italy branch recently succeeded in winning bids for ustekinumab in four regional governments: Piemonte, Valle d’Aosta, Liguria, and Sardegna. The combined scale of these regions accounts for about 10% of the Italian ustekinumab market, with Stekima supply planned until 2028.
Additionally, among the 21 regional governments in Italy, Uplyma won the adalimumab bids held in key regions Lazio, Lombardia, and Umbria. Starting this month, Uplyma will be supplied for three years in Lazio and Lombardia, and for two years in Umbria.
According to IQVIA, a pharmaceutical market research firm, Uplyma recorded a 43% market share in Italy as of the third quarter last year, maintaining the number one prescription spot following the previous quarter. Notably, in that quarter alone, its share increased significantly by 5 percentage points compared to the previous period, widening the gap with competing products. If this bidding success is reflected, Uplyma is expected to further solidify its irreplaceable position as the top prescribed treatment.
Celltrion's representative Remsima product line (IV·SC) continues to achieve bidding successes. First, 'Remsima,' which became Korea's first global blockbuster drug, recently won the bid in the Umbria region and will be supplied for two years until 2027.
The world's only infliximab subcutaneous (SC) formulation treatment, 'RemsimaSC,' has now become available for bidding across all regional governments in Italy after Sardegna established a new market for infliximab SC formulation, where previously no such bidding market existed.
The bidding successes of the Remsima product line have led to actual prescription expansion. As of the third quarter last year, the combined market share of the two products in Italy was 56%, maintaining the number one position for three consecutive quarters. RemsimaSC alone recorded a 21% market share, continuing its growth each quarter.
The reason Celltrion Italy branch has achieved excellent results in bidding competitions lies in its customized direct sales strategy. Starting with Remsima in 2020, Celltrion switched all products to direct sales in Italy and has since focused on building networks with bidding institutions that have significant influence in the local pharmaceutical market. In this process, they emphasized product competitiveness and supply stability, as well as minimized the time from winning bids to actual drug supply, thereby enhancing trust in both the products and the company and expanding their achievements.
Yoo Won-sik, head of Celltrion Italy branch, said, "Since the direct sales transition in 2020, we have continuously achieved bidding successes with regional governments, resulting in Celltrion's autoimmune disease treatments such as the Remsima product line and Uplyma maintaining the number one prescription position ahead of competitors. Stekima, launched this January, has also quickly succeeded in winning bids and is targeting the market. As it can utilize the same human and physical networks as existing autoimmune disease treatments, we will continue more aggressive sales activities to become the leading prescription treatment."
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