Merck Biopharma Korea introduces Tepmetko cancer treatment to Korean market

Seo Beom-jun, head of Merck Biopharma Korea’s medical division, talks at a press conference on Wednesday. [MERCK BIOPHARMA KOREA]

Merck Biopharma Korea introduced Tepmetko, a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, to the domestic market on Wednesday.

Tepmetko is a lung cancer treatment for patients with MET Exon 14 skipping mutations, frequently seen in longtime smokers.

The drug was given approval from the United States’ Food and Drug Administration in February last year, and approval from the domestic Ministry of Food and Drug Safety last November.

It took around a year for the treatment to be introduced to the Korean market since the ministry's approval, considered late compared to Novartis Korea’s Tabrecta, which also treats the same disease. Tabrecta was given Health Ministry approval on the same day as Tepmetko but was released in the market in April as a drug not yet covered by insurance.

According to Merck Biopharma Korea at a press conference Wednesday, it released its Tepmetko slower than its competitor due to spending extra time to arrange importing schedules with its headquarters, based in Darmstadt, Germany. The drug is also not covered by insurance, and the company said it is waiting for approval from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service.

The company says another advantage of its treatment is the longer half-life. Its drug has a half-life of 30 hours, while Tabrecta’s ranges between 6 to 7 hours. With the drug able to stay in the body for a longer time, Merck Biopharma Korea says it will be easier to take as patients will only have to take the treatment once a day. Tabrecta has to be taken twice a day.

Prof. Ahn Myung-joo of the department of hemato-oncology at Samsung Medical Center, present at the press conference, also says having to take less pills per day is one factor that makes it attractive. However, she emphasized that there is no significant difference in the efficacy of the two treatments, and that it isn’t ideal to compare the two drugs without direct comparative study results.

Among clinical trial participants of Tepmetko, 79 people, which made up 30 percent of the total, were Asians, with 20 Koreans.

“There were 20 Korean participants among the Asian subjects, and we believe the treatment will be effective in Koreans,” said Seo Beom-jun, head of Merck Biopharma Korea’s medical division.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]