Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., one of South Korea’s leading pharmaceutical companies, is expanding its global market presence by entering into Africa following its expansion into South America and the Middle East.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on Monday that it has signed an export contract with Moroccan pharmaceutical company Cooper Pharma for its new drug for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) Fexuclue.

This contract, worth $20.32 million, marks Daewoong‘s first foray into Africa. Daewoong plans to launch Fexuclue in Morocco from 2025 and carry out aggressive marketing by taking advantage of Cooper Pharma’s market dominance in the country. Fexuclue is already available in Mexico, Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in South America and the Middle East.

“With the growing reputation of Fexuclue in the global GERD treatment market, we are encouraged to enter the African continent in less than a year after its domestic launch,” said Jeon Seung-ho, chief executive officer at Daewoong Pharmaceutical. “We will continue to promote the strengths of Fexuclue and make it into a global blockbuster.”

Fexuclue is a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) drug. The market size of GERD drugs in Morocco is 75.5 billion won ($58.93 million), all of which are proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). This is the first P-CAB product to be launched in Morocco, and the company plans to capitalize on this agreement to expand the drug’s presence in the African market.

P-CAB is considered a next-generation treatment that improves the shortcomings of existing PPIs, such as slow onset of action, need to be taken before meals, and interactions with other drugs. In particular, Fexuclue provides rapid and reliable inhibition of stomach acid with or without a meal, and has the longest half-life of nine hours among the P-CAB class of drugs.

Founded in 1933, Cooper Pharma holds the top market share in the GERD treatment market in Morocco and is active in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

By Kang Min-ho and Yoon Yeon-hae

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