Daewoong Pharmaceutical has partnered with Chong Kun Dang for local sales of the gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) treatment Fexuclue, the country’s 34th new drug, the company said Monday.

Fexuclue is a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB)-based GERD treatment that is designed to improve the shortcomings of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs, such as slow onset of action and dietary effects. P-CABs have the longest half-life of up to nine hours among GERD medicines and have a long-lasting effect. They are also effective in improving symptoms caused by nighttime acid secretion.

“Through the partnership with Chong Kun Dang, Daewoong Pharmaceutical will be able to increase Fexuclue’s share in the domestic GERD therapies market at a faster pace,” an official from Daewoong Pharmaceutical said.

Chong Kun Dang was a previous partner of HK inno.N and sold the latter’s GERD treatment K-CAB. Their partnership ended last year.

“Both Daewoong and Chong Kun Dang have experience in launching P-CAB-based GERD treatments, and we plan to utilize that,” Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Lee Chang-jae said.

Under the partnership with Chong Kun Dang, Daewoong Pharmaceutical aims to increase Fexuclue’s annual sales to 300 billion won ($223 million) by 2030, in line with the growing market for P-CABs.

According to local market watcher Ubist’s data, the country’s spending on both P-CABs and PPIs came to 239 billion won in the fourth quarter last year, and P-CABs accounted for 25.9 percent of the total. Since the first quarter of 2019, when the market shares of P-CABs reached 1.6 percent, P-CABs’ share has been steadily increasing, Ubist data also showed.

Chong Kun Dang CEO Kim Young-joo said, “Chong Kun Dang has experience in the successful launch of a P-CAB product and supported the drug to become a blockbuster. With our how-know and marketing capacity, the company would help Fexuclue to take the lead in the market,” Kim said.