Kyungdong Pharmaceutical Reports 3Q Sales of 49.4 Billion KRW and Operating Profit of 6.5 Billion KRW... "Strong Sales of Flu Vaccine and New Products"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Kyungdong Pharmaceutical announced on the 15th that it recorded consolidated financial statement-based third-quarter sales of 49.4 billion KRW. Operating profit for the same period increased by 19.3% year-on-year to 6.5 billion KRW, and net profit increased by 60.3% to 5.1 billion KRW. Cumulative sales and operating profit for the third quarter reached 130.7 billion KRW and 14 billion KRW, respectively.

A company official stated, "In the third quarter, sales and operating profit grew compared to the same period last year due to strong sales of influenza (flu) vaccines and new products," adding, "Non-recurring expenses from impairment losses on financial assets that occurred last year were almost non-existent this year, leading to an increase in net profit compared to the same period last year."

Kyungdong Pharmaceutical is actively diversifying its product portfolio and expanding sales through the launch of new products such as over-the-counter drugs, injectables, and health functional foods, in addition to prescription drugs which account for a large portion of sales.

Since this year, the company has supplied the flu vaccines ‘Boryung Flu V Tetra Vaccine’ and ‘Boryung Flu VIII Tetra Vaccine’ mainly to local clinics and hospitals, achieving sales more than twice that of the previous year's flu vaccine sales. Additionally, the new product, a hypertension and hyperlipidemia combination drug called ‘Valtrio,’ has also shown strong sales performance.

With the sole CEO Ryu Gi-seong’s appointment in June marking the start of second-generation management, Kyungdong Pharmaceutical plans to leverage its solid performance and abundant surplus funds to expand strategic investments (SI) in the bio business and actively collaborate with various bio venture companies on new drug development.

Last month, as part of its bio healthcare investments, Kyungdong Pharmaceutical made an equity investment of 3 billion KRW in ANLBIO, a gene therapy specialist company for degenerative brain diseases, and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for new drug research and development cooperation.

A company official said, "Although sales of prescription drugs were somewhat sluggish due to a decrease in patients visiting individual clinics caused by COVID-19, prescription drug sales have gradually been recovering recently as quarantine guidelines changed with the transition to the 'With Corona' policy," adding, "We plan to actively pursue additional external growth by diversifying our product portfolio, including our strengths in prescription drugs as well as over-the-counter drugs and health functional foods."