Hanmi's Rolvedon set to post $10 mn in Q4 net sales in US

South Korean drugmaker Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co.’s neutropenia agent, Rolvedon (eflapegrastim-xnst), is forecast to achieve about $10 million in net sales in the US for the fourth quarter of 2022.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Hanmi’s sales partner in the US, announced the figure based on preliminary unaudited financial results on Wednesday. The US drugmaker will announce detailed financial updates of the 2022 earnings in March. 

Rolvedon, called Rolontis in Korea, was launched in the US last October after it earned a marketing license from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the same year. It is the first new oncology-targeting drug to be developed by a Korean pharmaceutical company and to receive FDA marketing approval.  

The neutropenia treatment decreases the incidence of infection in adult patients, who have non-myeloid malignancies and receive myelosuppressive anti-cancer drugs.

Rolvedon is expected to post about $60 million in revenue in the US market this year, accounting for 2% of neutropenia treatment in the country.

The drug achieved a meaningful result during the last quarter in the US neutropenia drug market, where Amgen Inc. is a strong player with Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) and Neupogen (filgrastim), said a Hanmi official. 

The Korean biotech will speed up the development of its other new drug candidates by using Lapscovery, its in-house technology that prolongs the residence time of a biologic and minimizes the frequency of treatment, the official said. 

Write to Jae-Young Han at jyhan@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.