[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Celltrion Healthcare achieved sales of 433.3 billion KRW and an operating profit of 76.2 billion KRW in the second quarter. The company successfully recovered an operating profit margin of 18% after overcoming the performance shock caused by a sharp decline in sales of 'Truxima' (generic name 'Rituximab') to the U.S. due to a temporary supply schedule adjustment in the first quarter.
On the 13th, Celltrion Healthcare announced that it recorded consolidated sales of 433.2507 billion KRW and an operating profit of 76.16061 billion KRW in the second quarter of this year. Sales grew by 3.1% compared to the same period last year, but operating profit fell by 12.3%. Compared to the previous quarter, sales increased by 21.6% and operating profit surged by 141.9%.
The company explained that despite the global spread of COVID-19, product prescriptions in global markets including the U.S. remained steady, resulting in sales growth. In particular, shipments of Truxima to the U.S., which had decreased due to a temporary supply schedule adjustment in the first quarter, showed a recovery trend in the second quarter, leading to a rebound in the operating profit margin to 17.6%.
Celltrion Healthcare expects this expansion of U.S. sales to continue in the second half of the year. Specifically, it explained that the recent settlement of an antitrust lawsuit between the U.S. distribution partner and the original manufacturer has made the expansion of U.S. prescriptions for ‘Inflectra’ (the U.S. product name for ‘Remsima’) highly likely. Furthermore, major U.S. private insurer Cigna has created a favorable market environment by listing Inflectra as a preferred drug excluding the original since July to expand biosimilar (biopharmaceutical generic) prescriptions, and by providing a $500 (approximately 590,000 KRW) prepaid card to patients switching to infliximab biosimilars. In fact, Inflectra’s market share has sharply increased from 10.7% last year to 17.2% in June.
A Celltrion Healthcare official said, “Since June, we have started directly selling chemical drugs from the Asia-Pacific primary care business unit acquired from Takeda Pharmaceutical through our local subsidiary, expanding our portfolio and enabling us to expect marketing synergy effects using a more diversified product lineup.” He added, “With the first sales of ‘Rekkirona’ occurring, the second half of this year is expected to see continuous improvement in company performance along with sales results of existing products and full-scale market expansion of follow-up products.”
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