Celltrion Pharmaceutical achieved its highest-ever quarterly operating profit, driven by balanced growth in its chemical drugs, biosimilars, and contract manufacturing (CMO) businesses.
On August 4, Celltrion announced in a preliminary earnings report that it recorded sales of 153.3 billion won and an operating profit of 19.3 billion won for the second quarter of this year. This represents a 16.8% increase in sales and a 24.4% increase in operating profit compared to the same period last year, marking a record for the quarter.
The operating profit margin for the second quarter was 12.6%, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous year. The improvement in performance was attributed to stable sales of chemical drugs, an increase in prescriptions for biosimilars, and a rise in production volume of pre-filled syringes (PFS) due to global demand.
For the first half of the year, cumulative sales reached 285.4 billion won, with an operating profit of 32.2 billion won, reflecting increases of 17.1% and 22.7%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Net profit for the same period was 22.5 billion won, up 22.4%.
The chemical business segment reported sales of 67.0 billion won. The liver treatment drug 'Godeks' saw a 10.1% increase in sales to 17.7 billion won due to expanded prescriptions. The diabetes medications 'Nesina' and 'Actos' continued to see steady prescriptions, while the hypertension and hyperlipidemia combination drug 'Amlojet' recorded sales of 8.6 billion won, benefiting from market expansion.
The biosimilars segment generated sales of 36.6 billion won, a 12.5% increase from the previous year. The autoimmune disease treatment 'Remsima' saw a 19.2% increase in sales to 11.5 billion won, while the blood cancer treatment 'Truxima' recorded a 20.7% increase to 4.3 billion won.
The autoimmune disease treatment 'Uplima' grew by 28.6% to 2.4 billion won, and the cancer drug 'Vegzelma' surged by 93.9% to 4.0 billion won. The allergy treatment 'Omniclo' saw a significant increase of 206.5% to 1.2 billion won, driven by new prescriptions in major hospitals, while autoimmune treatments 'Stekima' and 'Aptozma' each recorded sales of 400 million won.
The contract manufacturing segment reported sales of 49.7 billion won, a 53.4% increase from the previous year. The production volume of PFS products increased due to global demand, leading to a 51.9% rise in related commercial production sales to 35.3 billion won. Sales from in-house products and other pharmaceutical services also increased.
A Celltrion representative stated, "In the second quarter, the growth of major business segments continued evenly, leading to improvements in both sales and profitability. We will strengthen the sales competitiveness of our key products in the second half while maintaining production capabilities that can flexibly respond to market demand to ensure stable growth."
Additionally, the company announced plans to invest a total of 2 trillion won to establish PFS production facilities in the Chungcheong region, as revealed at last month's government 'Chungcheong Region Advanced Industry Development Vision National Report Meeting.' Once this investment is completed, Celltrion's PFS production capacity will expand from the current 20 million syringes per year to 70 million syringes.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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