Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Friday it has signed a contract with Russian pharmaceutical company JSC Pharmasyntez to export Envlo, an SGLT-2 inhibitor for diabetes treatment developed by the South Korean pharmaceutical company, to five member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia.

Under the agreement, Daewoong Pharmaceutical will supply its SGLT-2 inhibitor to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as Russia, once JCS Pharmasyntez completes local phase three clinical trials, the company said.

JCS Pharmasyntez, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Russia, boasts a wide distribution network throughout the CIS countries.

“SGLT-2 inhibitors are emerging as a major player in the global diabetes treatment market. As such, (Daewoong Pharmaceutical) considers the export agreement very meaningful,” Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Jeon Seng-ho said.

“We aim to expand the number of countries to export Envlo by up to 50 countries by 2023 and establish it as the leading diabetes treatment of South Korea.”

The deal is worth $60 million.

According to Daewoong Pharmaceutical, the diabetes medicine market in the region was estimated to be worth about 900 billion won ($689 million) in 2021, of which SGLT-2 inhibitors made up more than 140 billion won. In particular, the SGLT-2 inhibitor market in the region has been growing with an annual increase of 32 percent since 2019.

"There is a real need for innovative and high-quality medicines for the healthcare system and patients in the Russian Federation," JCS Pharmasyntez President Vikram Singh Punia said. "This is what we expect to achieve by introducing the new SGLT-2 inhibitor to market in cooperation with Daewoong Pharmaceutical.”

Envlo comes in less than one-third the dose of existing SGLT-2 inhibitors, at just 0.3 milligram, and has demonstrated the efficacy in lowering blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes, the company said.