Home > Business > Economy

Korea's obesity drug market heats up as Mounjaro launches and Wegovy cuts price

Published: 19 Aug. 2025, 13:51

A pharmacist displays a box of Mounjaro, a tirzepatide injection drug used for treating type 2 diabetes made by Eli Lilly at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on March 29, 2023. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea's obesity drug market, currently dominated by Wegovy, is bracing for a shake-up as Mounjaro, a drug with a more potent weight-loss effect, is set to be distributed in Korea from Wednesday.

With the market size now surpassing 100 billion won ($72 million) per quarter, competition among domestic and international pharmaceutical companies is expected to intensify.

Developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company in 2023, Mounjaro is currently regarded as the most effective weight-loss drug on the market. While Wegovy suppresses appetite by stimulating the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor to induce a sense of satiety, Mounjaro is a dual agonist that targets both the GLP-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors.

In a 72-week clinical trial on overweight patients conducted by Eli Lilly, Mounjaro showed an average weight loss of 20.2 percent and a maximum of 22.5 percent — surpassing Wegovy’s 68-week trial results of an average 14.9 percent weight reduction.

Mounjaro currently leads the U.S. obesity drug market with a roughly 60 percent share, overtaking Wegovy, which was launched by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in 2021. Globally, Mounjaro recorded 4.7 trillion won in sales in the second quarter of this year, outpacing Wegovy’s 4.2 trillion won.

Now sold in 48 countries, Mounjaro is set to launch in Korea about one year after receiving product approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in August 2024. According to industry sources on Sunday, the drug could be prescribed at local clinics as early as Aug. 21. The price is set at 280,000 won for a 2.5-milligram dose (four-week supply) and 370,000 won for a 5-milligram dose.

A sign for Eli Lilly & Co. stands outside their corporate headquarters in Indianapolis on April 26, 2017. Zepbound, a new version of the company's popular diabetes treatment Mounjaro can be sold as a weight-loss drug, U.S. regulators announced Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. [AP/YONHAP]

Since its October 2024 debut in Korea, Wegovy has generated 139.8 billion won in revenue over six months, capturing a 73.1 percent market share in the first quarter of this year. It gained popularity after being linked to weight-loss success stories from global celebrities such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and model-entrepreneur Kim Kardashian.

To counter Mounjaro’s entry, Novo Nordisk Korea slashed the local price of Wegovy by 10 to 40 percent. Previously priced uniformly at around 370,000 won regardless of dosage, Wegovy now retails for about 220,000 won for a 2.5-milligram dose as of Aug. 14 — approximately 60,000 won cheaper than Mounjaro.

Korean pharmaceutical companies are also accelerating the development of next-generation obesity treatments. Hanmi Pharmaceutical aims to complete a Phase 3 clinical trial for its GLP-1-based drug, efpeglenatide, in September. The weekly injectable is expected to become Korea’s first domestically developed GLP-1 obesity drug in the latter half of next year.

Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London on March 8, 2024. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Daewoong Therapeutics are developing a microneedle patch-type obesity drug, while Ildong Pharmaceutical has begun clinical trials for an oral obesity drug through its drug development subsidiary Unovia. HK inno.N, a subsidiary of Kolmar Korea, is also working on a weekly injectable treatment.

One variable in the market’s rapid growth is the U.S. drug pricing policy under the Trump administration, which could indirectly drive up prices of imported products.

U.S. President Donald Trump sent letters to the CEOs of 17 pharmaceutical companies on Aug. 1, including Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and GSK, criticizing that drug prices in the United States were up to three times higher than in other countries.

He warned that unless measures were taken by Sept. 29, he would “deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM KYUNG-MI [[email protected]]