Yuhan Corporation will take full responsibility for the domestic distribution and clinic\/physician office sales of Novartis Korea’s chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) treatment ‘Remibrutinib.’ By stepping in as the domestic commercialization partner for a new drug showing steep revenue growth from the early stages of its global launch, Yuhan has once again accelerated its strategy of combining external drug distribution with its own pipeline development.<\/p>\n
Yuhan Corporation announced on the 7th that it recently signed a strategic partnership agreement with Novartis Korea for the domestic distribution, sales, and promotion of Remibrutinib. Under the agreement structure, Yuhan will handle all domestic distribution, while promotion will be split: Novartis Korea will cover general hospitals, and Yuhan will cover clinics and physician offices.<\/p>\n
Remibrutinib is an oral treatment that selectively inhibits Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK), which is involved in the activation of mast cells and basophils. While existing antihistamines work by blocking H1 receptors to prevent histamine action, Remibrutinib has a differentiated mechanism that reduces the release of inflammatory mediators themselves at an earlier stage in the pathway. In South Korea, it received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in April for the treatment of adult chronic spontaneous urticaria patients whose symptoms are not adequately controlled by H1 antihistamines.<\/p>\n
In the global Phase 3 trials ‘REMIX-1\u00b72’ that served as the basis for approval, Remibrutinib significantly improved the weekly urticaria activity score (UAS7) at week 12 compared to placebo, and the symptom improvement was maintained through week 24. In the 52-week analysis, the improvement in itching and wheals observed from the first week of dosing was confirmed to be sustained.<\/p>\n
The drug’s early performance in the global market is also noteworthy. After receiving U.S. approval in September of last year, Remibrutinib generated $19 million in revenue during 2025, and has rapidly scaled up quarterly revenue this year to $37 million in Q1 and $64 million in Q2.<\/p>\n
The long-term pipeline value is also highly regarded. Novartis recently announced that remibrutinib met its primary endpoint in a global Phase 3 trial for relapsing multiple sclerosis. The results showed significant reductions in annualized relapse rate and inflammatory brain lesions compared to existing treatments, and the company is preparing for global regulatory submission. Market analysts project that if indications expand to include multiple sclerosis, chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU), and food allergies, remibrutinib’s annual revenue could reach up to $9 billion.<\/p>\n
For Yuhan Corporation, this represents an opportunity to build a stable product revenue base by participating in the domestic commercialization of a high-potential global new drug. The company has a track record of turning Boehringer Ingelheim’s hypertension drug ‘Twynsta’ and diabetes drugs ‘Trajenta’ and ‘Jardiance,’ as well as Gilead’s chronic hepatitis B treatments ‘Viread’ and ‘Vemlidy’ and HIV treatment ‘Biktarvy,’ into major blockbusters in the South Korean market. With Novartis, Yuhan has maintained a collaborative relationship since signing an exclusive domestic distribution agreement for the chronic myeloid leukemia treatment ‘Gleevec’ in 2020, followed by co-marketing of the breast cancer drug ‘Femara.’<\/p>\n
This agreement carries significance beyond a simple distribution deal. Yuhan is currently conducting a multinational Phase 2 clinical trial of its own allergy disease treatment candidate ‘lesigercept’ in chronic spontaneous urticaria patients. By simultaneously developing a clinical-stage candidate and handling the distribution, sales, and marketing of Remibrutinib, Yuhan is expected to deepen its understanding of the domestic CSU treatment landscape and proactively build the sales and distribution infrastructure needed for future commercialization of its own new drugs.<\/p>\n
However, the key variable that will determine Remibrutinib’s success in the South Korean market is whether it gains national health insurance reimbursement. Given the chronic nature of the disease requiring long-term treatment, insurance coverage is likely to have a direct impact on patient access and prescription expansion. The actual revenue contribution to Yuhan is expected to vary depending on whether and when reimbursement is granted.<\/p>\n
Yuhan Corporation CEO Cho Wook-je said, “Remibrutinib is an innovative treatment that can offer a new therapeutic option for chronic spontaneous urticaria patients,” adding, “Based on Yuhan’s sales and marketing capabilities and nationwide distribution network, we will do our utmost to effectively communicate the value of Remibrutinib to healthcare professionals and patients, and contribute to improving the treatment environment.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuhan Corporation will take full responsibility for the domestic distribution and clinic\/physician office sales of Novartis Korea’s chronic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[127],"tags":[41476,41218,61970,21718,27461,61878,206,59085,9051,59355],"class_list":["post-126929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novartis","tag-boehringer-ingelheim","tag-brutons-tyrosine-kinase","tag-cho-wook-je","tag-chronic-spontaneous-urticaria","tag-gilead","tag-lesigercept","tag-novartis","tag-novartis-korea","tag-remibrutinib","tag-yuhan-corporation"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117229140328944366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}