With local shingles vaccines rolled out, the prices of shingles vaccines are likely to go down.

Shingles vaccine biddings for 2018 showed that provincial governments, including South Chungcheong Province and North Jeolla Province, decided to purchase shingles vaccines at between 86,000 won ($76.26) and 105,000 won per vial from wholesalers.

The prices offered by each provincial government are top end prices, signaling that the price of shingles vaccine could go as low as 70,000 won per vial.

By region, Imsil County in North Jeolla Province set the purchasing fee for 570 bottles of shingles vaccines at 59.85 million won, or 105,000 won per bottle. Samyang Trading was the winning bidder.

The public health center in Gongju City in South Chungcheong Province allocated 56.87 million won to buying 625 vials of shingles vaccines, 91,000 won per vial. Nine wholesalers participated in the bidding, and Bio Heal won the bid. Two other wholesalers’ offers were below the lower limit of the winning bid.

Public health centers in Cheonan and Taean in South Chungcheong Province set the upper limit of the shingles vaccine price at 88,000 won per bottle. Another in Asan had the upper price limit at 86,000 won per unit.

As most of the wholesalers won the bidding at 84 percent level of the upper price limit, the actual winning price for shingles vaccines ranges from 70,000 won to 80,000 won per bottle, observers said.

The fall of the prices of shingles vaccines stemmed from more market competition.
Zostavax by multinational drugmaker MSD has been leading the 80 billion won local shingles vaccine market. However, SK Chemicals became the first Korean company to release a shingles vaccine, Skyzoster, in December last year.

Almost simultaneously with Skyzoster’s arrival, the price of the shingles vaccines started to slide. Before, people used to spend about 160,000 won to 200,000 won to get a Zostavax shot. After Skyzoster’s entry, however, it cost about 130,000 won to 140,000 won to have a shingles vaccine.

If GSK launches its new vaccine Shingrix in the domestic market, prices of shingles vaccines will drop further, officials said.

“Shingles vaccines sell at low prices at state biddings or biddings by local governments, unlike at hospitals and clinics,” said an official at a wholesaler of shingles vaccines. “Patients are sensitive about the price gaps between shingles vaccines at public health centers and those at hospitals and clinics. So, pharmaceutical firms will have to consider whether to cut the ex-factory prices to adjust to lowered prices at public health centers.”

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