Trajenta generics capture just 20% market share after 2 years

Combined prescriptions for Trajenta and Trajenta Duo generics reach KRW 4.8 billion in Q2

293 products approved by 68 companies ahead of June 2024 patent expiry

Average quarterly prescriptions around KRW 100 million per company… 87 products voluntarily withdraws license

Although more than 2 years have passed after generic versions of the DPP-4 inhibitor ‘Trajenta (linagliptin)’ entered the Korean market, the generics continue to account for only about 20% of prescriptions.

The sluggish uptake contrasts with the intense interest shown around the time of the original drug’s patent expiry, when 68 companies obtained approval for 293 generic products. 2 years after launch, the average quarterly prescription value per company remains around KRW 100 million, while 87 products from more than 30 companies have been voluntarily withdrawn due to poor commercial performance.

Trajenta and Trajenta Duo post KRW 19 billion in Q2 prescriptions…down 9% year over year

According to market research institution UBIST on the 16th, the combined outpatient prescription market for Trajenta and its generics totaled KRW 23.7 billion in Q2 2026, down 3% from a year earlier.

The decline was driven primarily by lower sales of the original products. Prescriptions for Trajenta monotherapy fell 19%, from KRW 9.1 billion in Q2 2025 to KRW 7.4 billion in Q2 this year. Prescriptions for Trajenta Duo, the metformin combination, fell from KRW 11.7 billion to KRW 11.6 billion.

The decline reflects both generic competition and reimbursement price reductions following the expiration of pricing premiums. The reimbursement price for Trajenta monotherapy was cut by 30% (from KRW 750 to KRW 525) when generics were launched in July 2024. Following the expiration of the one-year pricing premium in June 2025, the reimbursement price was further reduced to KRW 402. Prices for the fixed-dose combination Trajenta Duo were also reduced, depending on strength, from KRW 387 to KRW 338–344, then to KRW 259.

Trajenta generics account for only 20% of market 2 years into launch….slowest penetration among DDP-4 inhibitors

Since the expiry of Trajenta's composition patent in June 2024, generic manufacturers have gradually increased prescription volumes. Combined prescriptions for Trajenta and Trajenta Duo generics reached KRW 4.8 billion in Q2, up 28% year-on-year.

However, the prevailing industry assessment is that the penetration rate of Tradjenta generics has fallen short of expectations. The gap becomes even more pronounced when compared to the progress of other DPP-4 inhibitor generics whose patents expired earlier.

For example, generics of ‘Tenelia (teneligliptin)’ had already captured 60% of the market 2 years after launch, and overtook the original drug.

Generics of ‘Galvus (vildagliptin),’ the first DPP-4 inhibitor to lose patent protection, achieved a 48% market share within 2 years. Meanwhile, generics of ‘Januvia (sitagliptin),’ whose patent expired in September 2023, had reached a 23% market share after 2 years, three percentage points higher than Trajenta generics at the same stage (20%).

Although the first generic exclusivity period expired in March last year, allowing many additional manufacturers to enter the market, the influx failed to lead to a rebound in the overall generic market.

Average quarterly prescriptions remain around KRW 100 million per company…87 products withdraw from the market after ‘no-questions-asked generic approvals’

Commercial performance has also been disappointing at the company level. As of Q2, no manufacturer had generated more than KRW 1 billion in combined quarterly prescriptions for Trajenta and Trajenta Duo generics. Only KyungDong Pharm (KRW 970 million) and Kyongbo Pharmaceutical (KRW 810 million) exceeded KRW 500 million in quarterly prescriptions.

Most companies have failed to reach KRW 100 million in quarterly prescriptions. Among the 32 companies currently marketing Trajenta generics, 22 (68%) generated less than KRW 100 million in combined quarterly prescriptions. On average, quarterly prescriptions amount to just over KRW 100 million per company.

The situation stands in sharp contrast to the enthusiasm seen during the approval stage. Following successful patent challenges in 2018, generic manufacturers aggressively pursued marketing authorizations. A total of 68 companies obtained approval for 293 generic products of Trajenta monotherapy and Trajenta Duo.

In reality, however, only about half of the approved products were eventually launched. Instead, more companies have chosen to exit the market by voluntarily withdrawing approvals or declining to renew marketing authorizations upon expiration. To date, 87 products from 31 companies have been removed from the approval list.

Industry observers attribute the trend to indiscriminate approval filings timed around the patent expiry of a blockbuster diabetes drug, resulting in excessive competition. As promotional costs to secure prescriptions have risen while profit margins have fallen short of expectations, many small and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies have entered a phase of portfolio rationalization by abandoning unprofitable products.

Another factor behind the slow uptake is that Trajenta was the last major DPP-4 inhibitor to lose patent protection. By the time Trajenta generics entered the market, generics of Galvus, Tenelia, and Januvia had already established themselves, leaving late-arriving Trajenta generics struggling to compete for market share.