South Korea’s inbound shipments in the pharmaceutical sector, which had been increasing annually until 2014, declined by around 5 percent last year due in part to a rise in the use of domestic generic drugs, according to recent data by the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association.

Imports of raw materials used in pharmaceutical production and of finished pharmaceutical products together declined by 5.37 percent on-year to $4.8 billion in 2015, according to the KPTA.

By category, imports of starting substances declined 1.1 percent to stand at about $1.68 billion in 2015 while finished pharmaceutical imports dropped by 7.2 percent to stand at $3.14 billion last year.

“The decline in pharmaceutical imports is likely linked to the launch of locally made generic drugs after the patents on many original blockbuster drugs held by global pharma companies expired last year,” said an industry official on condition of anonymity.

In 2015, several patents on top-selling drugs — such as Eli Lilly’s impotence treatment drug Cialis (tadalafil) and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s hepatitis B treatment Baraclude (entecavir) — were lifted in Korea.

A large number of Korean drug firms launched cheaper, generic copies of the drugs, which quickly drove down the prescription volume of original brands.

For instance, Cialis generics launched by Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical and Chong Kun Dang Pharm overtook the local sales of Lilly’s original Cialis in September 2015, just one month after the generics were launched.

The heightened quality of Korean raw materials for pharmaceuticals, such as those produced by Yuhan Corp., are also reportedly making it easier for local drug manufacturers to turn to domestic options over imports.

As more major patents are set to expire this year — such as those on Boehringer Ingelheim’s hypertension drug Twinstar and MSD’s Vytorin — pharmaceutical imports are set to further decline as Korean drugmakers continue to develop equally effective generic replacements.

“It is unlikely that Korea’s dependence on pharmaceutical imports will increase in the long run, as Korean pharma companies will continue developing their own replacement drugs,” said the official.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)