(Daewoong Pharmaceutical) Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Thursday it has signed a 145.2 billion won ($93.4 million) export and supply agreement with Switzerland-based Acino Pharma AG to launch its diabetes drug Envlo in eight major markets across the Middle East and North Africa.The company said the deal is Envlo's largest export agreement to date and marks the first entry of a Korean-developed sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor into the MENA market.Under the agreement, Daewoong plans to secure marketing approval for Envlo in Saudi Arabia this year before launching the drug in the first half of 2027 in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq and Egypt.Envlo is a locally developed SGLT-2 inhibitor for Type 2 diabetes that lowers blood sugar by blocking glucose reabsorption in the kidneys and increasing glucose excretion through urine.According to Daewoong, Envlo demonstrated blood glucose-lowering efficacy comparable to or greater than existing SGLT-2 inhibitors at a dose of just 0.3 milligrams, roughly one-thirtieth that of competing products.The company added that, unlike conventional SGLT-2 inhibitors whose efficacy tends to decrease in patients with impaired kidney function, Envlo has shown significant improvements in urinary glucose-creatinine ratios, fatty liver indicators and insulin resistance among diabetic patients with reduced renal function.Daewoong said clinical data pointing to potential kidney and cardiovascular benefits could provide Envlo with a key competitive advantage in the region's diabetes treatment market."This agreement is meaningful not only because it is Envlo's largest export deal to date, but also because it marks the first entry of a Korean-developed SGLT-2 inhibitor into the Middle East and Africa," said Park Seong-soo, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical."Together with Acino, which has proven commercial capabilities in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, we will rapidly expand Envlo's presence across the MENA region and develop it into a global blockbuster drug," Park said.