Celltrion Inc., a major South Korea biopharmaceutical company, said Thursday its net profit plunged 87.6 percent from a year earlier, after the company’s merger with its sales and marketing affiliate.
Its net profit came to 20.8 billion won (US$15.2 million) in the January-March period, compared with 167.1 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Operating income fell 91.5 percent on-year to 15.4 billion won, while revenue increased 23.3 percent to hit a quarterly high of 737 billion won.
The operating profit was 146.6 percent higher than the average estimate, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The estimate of net profit was not available.
Despite strong sales, the company said its net profit decreased due to effects deriving from its merger with Celltrion Healthcare in December, including bigger inventory and amortization of intangible assets.
But Celltrion’s sales surpassed 700 billion won for the first time in the first q
uarter mainly thanks to rising demand for its biosimilar infliximab products for autoimmune diseases in Europe.
The combined market share of Remsima and Remsima SC, the subcutaneous version of the drug, hit 74 percent in Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy in the fourth quarter of last year, Celltrion said, citing data from health care researcher IQVIA.
The Korean company’s other blockbuster biosimilars, Truxima and Herzuma, also had a market share of 24 percent and 19 percent in Europe, respectively.
The company said it is also working to break Zymfentra, a U.S. version of Remsima SC, into the American market after the drug won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year.
Celltrion’s third production facility also plans to start operation in the fourth quarter of this year to expand the company’s manufacturing capacity to 250,000 liters.
Source: Yonhap News Agency