Celltrion Pharm reports second-quarter earnings growth across businesses

Celltrion Pharm said its operating profit for the second quarter rose 24.4 percent to 19.3 billion won ($13.5 million) from 15.5 billion won a year earlier, which it attributed to steady chemical-medicine sales, broader biosimilar prescriptions and increased PFS production.

Revenue rose 16.8 percent to 153 billion won ($107 million) from 131 billion won ($91.8 million), while net income climbed 23.7 percent to 13.7 billion won ($9.6 million) from 11.1 billion won ($7.75 million).

"We will strengthen the sales competitiveness of our key products and continue operating production capacity that can respond flexibly to market demand in the second half," a Celltrion Pharm official said.

Chemical medicines generated 67 billion won ($46.9 million) in revenue, including 17.7 billion won ($12.4 million) from Godeks, up 10.1 percent as prescriptions expanded. The biosimilar business recorded 36.6 billion won ($25.6 million) in revenue, up 12.5 percent from a year earlier, with Remsima contributing 11.5 billion won ($8.04 million), Truxima 4.3 billion won ($3.01 million) and Vegzelma 4 billion won ($2.8 million). Contract manufacturing revenue rose 53.4 percent to 49.7 billion won ($34.8 million), including 35.3 billion won ($24.7 million) from commercially produced PFS products, up 51.9 percent as global demand increased.

The company cited economies of scale from a higher volume of internally produced products and PFS manufacturing as factors supporting profitability. Operating margin stood at 12.6 percent in the second quarter, up 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier.