MediPost Achieves Record High Sales of 64.2 Billion KRW Last Year, Up 17% YoY

Knee Osteoarthritis Stem Cell Treatment 'Cartistem'
Balanced Growth Across All Sectors Including Cord Blood Bank 'Celtree'

Exterior view of Medipost headquarters. [Photo by Medipost]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Medipost recorded its highest-ever sales last year, surpassing 60 billion KRW for the first time in history.

Medipost announced on the 6th that its consolidated sales last year reached 64.2 billion KRW, a 17.0% increase compared to the previous year. Following a 12.8% increase in 2021, this marks two consecutive years of double-digit growth.

Last year, the company posted an operating loss of 17.4 billion KRW due to rising costs from inflation, increased research and development expenses for the injectable osteoarthritis treatment 'SMUP-IA-01', and one-time costs such as fees related to overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A). However, pre-tax profit surged significantly to 22.7 billion KRW thanks to asset revaluation and gains from convertible bond valuations, and net profit turned positive at 18.6 billion KRW.

Medipost explained that all business divisions grew evenly. The knee osteoarthritis stem cell treatment 'Cartistem' division achieved a 12.9% sales increase compared to the previous year, recovering double-digit growth for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, based on the trust in its proven product. Additionally, it surpassed 25,000 cumulative surgeries and 1 trillion KRW in cumulative sales last year, demonstrating excellent long-term efficacy and cost-effectiveness.

The cord blood division, operating 'Celtree', the number one domestic cord blood bank, grew 14.5% year-on-year despite the challenging environment of record-low birth rates. This growth was supported by campaigns to raise awareness of cord blood and the country's only multi-bag storage service. The health functional food brand 'Mobita' saw a slight sales increase of 1.8% year-on-year through diversification of online sales channels.

Last year, Medipost acquired OmniaBio, a Canadian cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), and established dedicated cleanrooms for cell and gene therapy CDMO within its domestic GMP production facilities, officially declaring its entry into the CDMO business and actively pursuing business diversification.

A Medipost official stated, "Last year, each business division achieved record-high sales through dedicated efforts, laying the foundation for entry into the new CDMO business. We expect the existing businesses, which have gained momentum, to continue growing this year, and at the same time, we will do our best to successfully establish domestic and overseas CDMO operations to strengthen our future business competitiveness."

Meanwhile, Medipost is accelerating both domestic and overseas clinical trials alongside its sales growth. In October last year, it completed patient dosing for the domestic Phase 2 clinical trial of the injectable osteoarthritis treatment SMUP-IA-01 and plans to evaluate safety and efficacy through a one-year observation period. Cartistem has begun dosing the first patient in the Japanese Phase 3 clinical trial and is accelerating clinical progress in Japan.