Korea United Pharm received approval for the first generic of Novartis’s DPP-4 inhibitor, ‘Galvusmet (vildagliptin/metformin hydrochloride),’ an antidiabetic treatment.

With the approval, the company will likely be competing with Hanmi Pharmaceutical next year, which marked the start of Galvusmet latecomers with a salt-modified drug in July.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved Korea United Pharm’s Galvusmet generic on the 18th. The product is a fixed-dose combination of vildagliptin and metformin hydrochloride and is a generic drug that contains the same ingredient as Novartis’s Galvusmet that was approved in 2008.

The drug was approved as an adjunct