Korea adds Pergoveris pen to reimbursement rolls; vial already covered
- Merck Healthcare Korea said on 31 August 2026 that the Pergoveris pre-filled pen enters national health insurance reimbursement on 1 September, across all three strengths: 300/150 IU, 450/225 IU and 900/450 IU.
- The vial formulation was already reimbursed. The listing extends coverage to the pen at the same indication, stimulation of follicular development in women with severe luteinising hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone deficiency. No patient becomes eligible on 1 September who was not eligible on 31 August.
- Pergoveris pairs recombinant human FSH (follitropin alfa) with recombinant human LH (lutropin alfa) in a fixed 2:1 ratio. The EMA approved it in 2007. Korea approved the vial in 2010 and the pen in 2019, and it remains the only recombinant FSH and LH combination approved in the country.
- The relaunched pen carries a 31G, 8 mm short needle in place of the previous 29G, 12 mm, and allows dose setting in 12.5 IU increments. Merck Healthcare Korea is led by Christoph Hamann, with Kim Wook heading the fertility business.
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The molecule has been reimbursed in Korea for years. What listed on 1 September is a delivery device. The eligibility question was settled seventeen months earlier, and that is where the volume came from.
- Coverage moved to the pen, not the drug. The indication is unchanged at severe LH and FSH deficiency, the same population the vial has served since 2010. This is a convenience listing, and its commercial effect runs through switching from vial to pen rather than through new patients.
- The eligibility expansion happened in April 2025. Korean reimbursement criteria for Pergoveris were relaxed then, and clinicians report combination FSH and LH use rose materially afterwards. The 1 September listing rides that base rather than creating one.
- In a self-injected protocol the device carries the argument. A 31G short needle and 12.5 IU titration steps matter across a multi-week stimulation cycle. More than 70% of Korean fertility treatment patients are aged 35 or older, where fine dose control in poor responders is the clinical case.
Read the original source (Merck Healthcare Korea, via Rapportian) →