Handok announced on the 23rd that it has entered into an exclusive domestic sales and distribution agreement for the obesity treatment drug containing the ingredient ‘liraglutide’ with the global biopharmaceutical company ‘Biocon’.

Developed by Biocon, the obesity treatment drug with ‘liraglutide’ is a GLP-1 analogue based on synthetic peptide technology, designed to lower blood sugar in diabetic patients or reduce body weight in obese patients. With this agreement, Handok will be responsible for the domestic product approval, sales, and distribution of the liraglutide-based obesity treatment.

Chairman Young-Jin Kim of Handok stated, “Liraglutide has been mainly used as a diabetes treatment, but it has been garnering significant interest as an obesity treatment since its release. Through cooperation with Biocon, we can expand Handok’s portfolio into the obesity field and will successfully launch and grow the product using our competitive edge as a leader in the diabetes business.”

Siddharth Mittal, CEO and Managing Director of Biocon, said, “Biocon strives to provide innovative and affordable medicines worldwide to improve disease treatment and quality of life. With such a strategy, we are expanding the launch countries for our obesity treatment with liraglutide and are pleased to introduce it to Korean patients through collaboration with Handok. We will work together with Handok to successfully launch the liraglutide-based obesity treatment in the Korean market.”

Meanwhile, Handok has been playing the role of a market leader by providing a total diabetes solution, offering various options in all aspects of diabetes from diagnosis to treatment and management. Not only has it provided various diabetes treatments such as Amaryl and Tenelia, but it has also recently launched the real-time personal continuous glucose monitor, Barozen Fit.