Korea's 1st homegrown obesity drug likely to intensify price competition

Korea’s first homegrown obesity drug could shake up a market dominated by Mounjaro and Wegovy, an industry official said, as more Koreans travel to Japan to obtain cheaper Mounjaro and bring it home illegally, driven by the high cost of obesity treatments in Korea. Chung Sang-won, director of pharmacy innovation at the Korea Pharmaceutical Association, said the launch of Eppe, Korea’s first domestically developed glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based obesity treatment, could intensify price competition, as seen in China. “The price of Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro fell by as much as 66 percent in China earlier this year, from 1,758 yuan ($262) to 599 yuan. Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy also saw a substantial price drop,” Chung said. The price cuts came amid intensifying competition in China, where domestically developed GLP-1-based obesity treatments have entered the market. In 2025, Innovent Biologics’ mazdutide, a dual glucagon and GLP-1 receptor agonist, received approval from Chinese authorities, adding to competition in the country’s obesity drug market. Sciwind Biosciences’ ecnogl