Topic
Prescribing, uptake and safety questions around weight-loss drugs including Mounjaro and Wegovy.
Korean customs detected 5,030 illegal obesity-drug imports through August, up from four in 2024, as Koreans fly to Japan for cheaper Mounjaro. Korea's visible answer so far is tighter border checks, with no reported cut to clinic prices for the uninsured drug.
Reality
Korea's regulator approved Hanmi Pharmaceutical's efpeglenatide, the first homegrown GLP-1 obesity drug, after patients lost 9.02% of body weight in 40 weeks. That is less than Wegovy and Mounjaro showed in longer trials, so Hanmi's case rests on milder side effects and a price for long-term patients that it has not yet set.
Reality
Hanmi Pharmaceutical's Eppe could launch in Korea before year-end at an estimated 150,000 won for four weeks, 45% below Mounjaro's cheapest listing. Lilly won about 85% of the market at a higher price than Wegovy, so Novo, which has cut once already, is the likelier incumbent to cut again.
Reality
Thirty of Korea's most exposed drugmakers raised first-half R&D by about a fifth as next year's generic price cuts approach, and the two largest spenders in the group supplied most of the increase. Four smaller firms cut.
Reality
A national survey of 27,741 adults reports 1.9 times the depression among prescribed weight-loss drug users, and 4.2 times the suicidal ideation among those who regained weight. The exposed group is 3% of the sample.
Reality