[Click eStock] "SK Biopharm, Faster Growth in Epilepsy Drug Sales"

Sangsangin Securities forecasted on the 1st that SK Biopharm's profit growth rate is accelerating due to increased sales of the epilepsy drug Cenobamate (U.S. product name Xcopri, European product name Ontozry), and that the trend of performance improvement will continue.

Ha Taegi, an analyst in charge of pharmaceuticals and bio at Sangsangin Securities, stated in a report on the same day, "As of December last year, the global prescription count (TRx) of Cenobamate reached 2.2 times the average at 44 months after the launch of competitor drugs," and predicted, "The rapid sales growth trend of Xcopri will continue this year." He also mentioned, "SK Biopharm announced a pharmaceutical supply contract worth 110.3 billion KRW with its U.S. subsidiary SK Life Sciences," adding, "Currently, the cumulative number of patients prescribed Cenobamate in the U.S. and European markets has exceeded 100,000."

Analyst Ha analyzed, "SK Biopharm's cost of sales ratio is only 8-10%, so if selling and administrative expenses are well controlled, operating profit will structurally increase rapidly," and "the profit growth rate is much faster than the sales growth rate." Accordingly, he evaluated, "Operating profit in the first quarter of this year is expected to have turned positive with 6.7 billion KRW, which is after absorbing annual new drug development costs of 30 million USD (approximately 40 billion KRW) for the subsidiary bio company SK LSB."

He said, "SK Biopharm is expanding the indication of the epilepsy treatment drug Cenobamate to generalized tonic-clonic seizures (PGTC) to increase sales, while also expanding the supply market to the Asian region," and added, "They are currently progressing with the process aiming for a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the eligible age group for administration to children and others."

He continued, "SK Biopharm plans to announce within this year the development schedule and detailed business plans for three next-generation platforms summarized as △Radiopharmaceuticals (RPT) △Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) technology △Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT)," and added, "In addition to cash cow drugs that boost performance, new drug development is actively being pursued, so corporate value is expected to continue growing."