Hanmi's Eppe is due this month at 129,800 won wholesale for four weeks, against about 210,000 to 270,000 won for Wegovy and Mounjaro. At the 299,200 won maintenance dose, Seoul Economic Daily puts the gap at 17% to 19%.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 13%
- Operator
- Operator 37%
- Investor
- Investor 50%
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+35
- Incentives60
- Confidence62
HiteJinro began brewing Kirin Ichiban Shibori in Korea and plans to supply about 75% of the brand's annual Korean volume locally by next year. The supply shortfall it gives as the reason rests on figures only HiteJinro has published.
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption35
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives65
- Confidence55
Mounjaro at a third of Korea's price draws Koreans to Japanese clinics
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
- Evidence55
- Adoption30
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence55
South Korea's biopharma exports rose 15.8% to a record $6.6 billion in the first nine months, led by Europe, the drug safety ministry said. With US shipments down 23.7%, Seoul Economic Daily reported, the record rests on European contract manufacturing and biosimilar demand.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 13%
- Operator
- Operator 37%
- Investor
- Investor 50%
Reality
- Evidence72
- Adoption60
- Hype gap+8
- Incentives35
- Confidence70
Seoul High Court jails Genencell founder for four years over breach of trust and other charges, including 600 million won payment to broker's firm
Seoul High Court gave Genencell founder Kang four years in prison, reversing his acquittal over 600 million won paid to a broker's company. The ruling rests on recorded calls tying that money to an approach to Rep. Kim Seung-won.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives65
- Confidence60
Hanmi's Cheaper Obesity Drug Eppe Could Undercut Lilly's Mounjaro More Than Novo's Wegovy
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
- Evidence45
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence40
Seoul High Court jails Genencell's Kang for four years over 600 million won lobbying payment
Seoul High Court jailed Genencell founder Kang for four years, ruling that 600 million won paid to a broker was compensation for lobbying via a lawmaker. The ruling contradicts one of the two reasons prosecutors gave in 2024 for suspending the indictment of lawmaker Kim Seung-won.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives60
- Confidence58
Seized Wegovy parcels outnumber licensed shipments nine to one in Korea's customs data
Korea's grey channel for weight-loss drugs now dwarfs the licensed one by case count, and a foreign web price that domestic prescriptions cannot match is doing the work.
Reality
- Evidence68
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives40
- Confidence62
Daewoong's sales force takes over a cognitive therapeutic at 200 prescriptions a month
Emocog's route into Korean clinics is now a drugmaker's sales force. The three-year exclusive covers hospitals, clinics and public health centers nationwide, and the screening test that feeds the prescriptions goes with it.
Reality
- Evidence44
- Adoption48
- Hype gap+18
- Incentives70
- Confidence52
A venture firm demanded 15 million won to guarantee acceptance into Korea's TIPS program
Korea's Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission analysed 2,184 startup complaints filed over twelve months and found offers of paid access among the most common, with monthly volumes running 36.5% above the earlier pace.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives55
- Confidence55
Kakao Ventures seeds a four-month-old startup that estimates the angiography frames the X-ray skipped
Corologic's AngioFilm interpolates low-frame-rate coronary angiography video in real time so the machine takes fewer X-ray pictures, and the seed money from Kakao Ventures and SNU Holdings is going to multicenter validation and approvals.
Reality
- Evidence30
- Adoption20
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives70
- Confidence50
Cosmax's production peak has moved from the year-end quarter to July
Cosmax made 86.22 million units in July, its highest month this year and about triple its July 2021 output. First-quarter production came to 116% of the preceding fourth quarter, a ratio that stood at 91% in 2022.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption70
- Hype gap+28
- Incentives52
- Confidence55
Korea's top prosecutors sent back an indictment built on 5 million won of donations
A Seoul investigation team wanted justice minister nominee Kim Seung-won prosecuted and sentenced to eight months over a request to speed a COVID-19 trial approval. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office suspended the indictment instead.
Reality
- Evidence42
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+12
- Incentives68
- Confidence38
All 30 'plant-based' melatonin foods Korea tested were melatonin, 27 above the drug dose
The Korea Consumer Agency says the category's main selling point describes a compound chemically identical to prescription melatonin, and 58 of 100 ads it reviewed were misleading.
Reality
- Evidence46
- Adoption52
- Hype gap+24
- Incentives68
- Confidence41