Can South Korea’s homegrown diet drug steal Wegovy, Mounjaro’s crown

Following a familiar path taken by Korean challengers in industries from cars to cosmetic injections, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is betting that a lower price can steal some Korean users from Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro.

Hanmi's Eppe, or efpeglenatide, reached selected clinics on Oct. 29, three weeks after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved it as Korea's first homegrown GLP-1 obesity drug.

Its first four weeks of treatment carry a supply price of 129,800 won ($96.6), according to prices circulating among distributors.

That is less than half the 278,066 won for Mounjaro's starter dose and about 40 percent below Wegovy's roughly 216,000 won. Novo introduced that price in August 2025, cutting its starting dose by about 40 percent shortly before Mounjaro entered the Korean market.

But in these early days, a lower price alone may not persuade patients to switch.

"The effect hasn't been verified. I wouldn't rush to change. I'm quite happy with the effects of Mounjaro, which we can buy cheaply during trips to Japan," said 51-year-old Park Sun-young, a resident of Busan who regularly travels to Japan.

Her hesitation illustrates the confidence Hanmi must build as it enters a market where prescriptions have more than doubled.

Wegovy and Mounjaro were prescribed 2,789,992 times from January through August, compared with 1,222,574 for all of 2025, according to Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service data submitted to Rep. Kim Yoon.

"Whether or not health insurance applies, use for cosmetic rather than medical purposes could grow further in Korea, and drugmakers seem confident about that," said Hwang Ju-ri, director of public and international affairs at the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization.

For adult weight management, the drugs generally require a body mass index of at least 30, or at least 27 with a weight-related condition such as high blood pressure.

Those who qualify for obesity treatment pay the full bill.

South Korea's national health insurance does not cover the treatments for obesity, leaving clinics and pharmacies to set their own charges above supply prices. The distributor figures therefore do not represent patients' final costs.

In Japan, tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro, is sold for obesity as Zepbound and covered for qualifying patients. Its official starter price is 3,067 yen per weekly injection, or 12,268 yen for four weeks, before insurance contributions and other medical charges. That regulated price is not the same as the retail bill a Korean visitor would pay.

Lawmakers say price differences have encouraged purchases abroad.

The Korea Customs Service intercepted illegally imported obesity drugs 5,030 times in the first eight months of this year, 4.2 times the total for 2025.

Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong told a parliamentary audit on Oct. 27 that the government would consider bringing GLP-1 drugs into a managed-coverage scheme that controls prices and use.

Some in the industry expect demand to accelerate further if insurance coverage is extended to obesity treatment, Hwang said.

Eppe's reported weight-loss results are more modest than those of its imported rivals, although the separate trials do not establish a direct ranking of effectiveness.

Hanmi reported average weight loss of 9.75 percent at 40 weeks in an interim Phase 3 analysis. Wegovy recorded 14.9 percent at 68 weeks in its trial, while the highest dose of tirzepatide, the ingredient in Mounjaro, produced 20.9 percent at 72 weeks.

The studies differed in duration, participants and design.

No trial has compared all three drugs directly.

Eppe's price advantage extends to maintenance treatment. Its 10-milligram dose has a supply price of 299,200 won for four weeks, about 20 percent below Wegovy's highest dose and less than half the 675,131 won for Mounjaro's highest dose.

The boom is drawing more Korean drugmakers into the field.

Celltrion is developing a four-target injection, CT-G32, alongside a separate oral drug that acts on several targets. It plans to submit clinical trial applications for the injection in the first half of 2027 and the pill in the second half of 2028.

Ildong Pharmaceutical has completed early human testing of its oral GLP-1 drug, while Hanmi is aiming to launch a triple-acting injection in 2030.

Hwang said the longer-term test is what happens after the initial results.

In an extension of Wegovy's main trial, participants regained about two-thirds of their lost weight within a year of stopping both the drug and the trial's lifestyle intervention. The findings underscore the difficulty of maintaining weight loss after treatment ends.

"Everyone has seen the immediate effect and heard about people losing weight right away, but the biggest side effect that has emerged is rebound," Hwang said.

"We need to see one full cycle."

For patients paying out of pocket, the cost of staying on treatment could ultimately matter as much as the price of starting. Hanmi has made its opening offer. Winning patients' confidence will take longer.

AJP Takeaways

- Hanmi Pharmaceutical's Eppe (efpeglenatide), Korea's first homegrown GLP-1 obesity drug, reached selected clinics on Oct. 29, 2026. Its arrival creates a three-way race with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro.

- Eppe's first four weeks cost 129,800 won at distributor supply prices, against about 278,000 won for Mounjaro and about 216,000 won for Wegovy at their starting doses.

- Wegovy and Mounjaro were prescribed 2,789,992 times in January–August 2026, more than double the full-year 2025 total. All three drugs remain limited to patients with a BMI of 30 or more, or 27 or more with a related condition, and are not covered by national health insurance.

- Celltrion plans clinical trial filings for its four-target injection CT-G32 in the first half of 2027 and for an oral multi-target pill in the second half of 2028.

Earlier, it was reported that Wegovy pill had won the FDA approval, adding oral option for weight loss.