Amidst the recent trend of increasing patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia due to the aging population, the related treatment market is also exciting.
Among them, ‘Saw Palmetto Extract (Serenoa repens)’ is attracting attention again. In the clinical field, it has already been recognized for its therapeutic effect in Europe, etc.
According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 28th, pharmaceutical companies are launching over-the-counter medicines and health functional foods competitively one after the other in line with the recent increase in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.
In the case of over the counter medicines, Dongkuk Pharmaceutical’s and Hyundai Pharm’s recent ‘Karitopoten’ and ‘Urintamine Capsule’ are representative. Here, Karitopoten contains the herbal medicine ingredient cucurbit seed oil extract (Western pumpkin seed oil extract), and urintamine contains three main ingredients: L-glutamic acid, L-alanine, and glycine.
Both products claim to improve the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and have recently been actively involved in sales and marketing.
Their direct competitor items are dry season foods with ‘saw palmetto blow’ valued in a market of around 100 billion won.
Since last year, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has strengthened control, such as establishing new ingredient standards for quality control of dry foods made with saw palmetto extract. While announcing that there is no basis, it attracts attention as a replacement item it is.
The market is rapidly being reorganized as OTC drugs targeting the niche market appear while the withdrawal of dry food items with insufficient content is accelerating due to the stricter ingredient standards for Serenoa Repens , an extract of saw palmetto.
However, in the clinical field, it is evaluated that the drug ingredient Serenoa Refens, which means saw palmetto extract, is still needed in the treatment of mild benign prostatic hyperplasia. This means that it is still used in the pharmaceutical market, apart from dry food, which has insufficient content.
A representative item is Someto 320mg (Serenoa Repens) soft capsule, a treatment for prostatic hyperplasia from Pharmbio Korea.
“Actually, in the early 2000s, the Serenoa Repens component was negative for improving prostate enlargement, but in recent years, it has been changing positively,” said Min Seung-gi, vice president of the Korean Urology Association. (Goldman Department of Urology, Jamsil Branch).
In fact, Serenoa Repens, the main ingredient of Someto, has already been recognized for its effectiveness in the treatment of enlarged prostates in the European Union and elsewhere.
According to the global medical journal ‘Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin’, free fatty acids such as ‘oleic acid’ and ‘lauric acid’, the main ingredients of Serenoa repens, produce dihydrotestosterone, which causes prostate enlargement . the enzyme ‘5α-Reductase’.
If the food of the dry season contains 40% of such free fatty acids, Someto, which is classified as a drug, contains 80%, twice as much.
In addition, through Urology Times (Urology Times 2022), although it was not consistent, an interview was published saying that the ingredients of Serenoa Repens should not be ignored in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
Accordingly, in the clinical field, it is evaluated that Someto, the only Serenoa Refens product that can be applied by health insurance, can be used as a treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Furthermore, it is believed to have an advantage as it has sufficient clinical data compared to other drugs that have been sold and marketed recently.
Min Seung-gi, Vice Chairman of Insurance said, “As the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety strengthens the standards for dry foods, many of them are expected to be withdrawn from the market. Accordingly, OTC drugs also seem to be gaining attention lately.” Medicines can still be used in the clinical field,” he explained.
He added, “It is possible to use medicines adequately for patients with mild prostatic hyperplasia,” adding, “Moreover, in the case of pharmaceuticals with the corresponding component, reimbursement is possible, but even if they are prescribed for lack of reimbursement, they are cheaper than dry food on the market.”
