Joint Drug Marketing
Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. announced on September 13 that it has signed a joint promotion agreement with Amgen Korea, a local subsidiary of the world’s leading biotech company Amgen, to sell osteoporosis biologic drug Prolia. The agreement comes as the first joint contract made between a multinational company and a Korean firm for a biologic osteoporosis treatment in Korea. Prolia (ingredient: denosumab) is the new, innovative osteoporosis treatment released by Amgen Korea in November 2016.
Under the agreement, Amgen will sell and market Prolia in large hospitals while Chong Kun Dang will do so for small to medium-sized hospitals and neighborhood clinics. The two companies expects that the partnership will produce synergy from a combination of Amgen’s technological prowess as a world-class biotechnology company and Chong Kun Dang’s long-established sales force proven in the domestic market to expand Prolia’s presence in the local market.
Prolia is the result of Amgen’s genome studies in the 1990s. Amgen discovered Receptor Activator of Nuclear factor Kappa-B Ligand (RANKL) proteins which are essential for forming, activating, and prolonging osteoclasts, a type of bone cell that breaks down bone tissue through genetically-modified mouse research. Based on the findings, Amgen succeeded in developing Prolia that targets RANKL proteins. Since the hypodermic injection is administered once every six months to patients with osteoporosis, it has high convenience to patients. Prolia also has consistency in safety, effectively prevents bone fractures and improves bone density when patients get injection for the long term.
Chong Kun Dang CEO Kim Young-joo said, “Chong Kun Dang has been steadily increasing its market share in the musculoskeletal drug market with products such as Imotun, an anti-osteoarthritis drug, and Coxbito, an anti-inflammatory analgesic. With the joint promotion agreement for Prolia, the company will strengthen its position in the domestic musculoskeletal market by including the new, innovative osteoporosis treatment into its product line.”