Soaring Profits
Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. (Hanmi Pharm) announced on July 28 that it posted 6.4 billion won in its tentative consolidated operating profit for the second quarter of 2016, up 161.3 percent from the same period a year ago, driven by its good performance in the domestic market and some reflection of licensing earnings last year.
The company saw its net profit increase to 21.4 billion won, 69.7 percent higher year-on-year, with its sales dropping 4.1 percent to 234.5 billion won. It also made an investment of 40.3 billion won in R&D, which accounts for 17.2 percent of its sales due to the cost-reducing factor in R&D expenses resulting from licensing contracts.
The quarter’s results contain some reflections of the earnings from licensing deals signed last year. Its domestic sales of major products, including Rosuzet (hypertension/hyperlipidemia), Gugu/Palpal (impotence), Rovelito (hypertension/hyperlipidemia), also grew evenly.
Equally important, a series of releases of competitive drugs, such as Hemangiol (infantile hemangioma), Ezet (hyperlipidemia) and Ninenine (multi-nutritional supplement) centered on Olita (lung cancer) that is the first domestically developed innovative drug targeting global markets, are expected to serve as an engine for steady growth of sales in the local market.
Unfortunately, however, Beijing Hanmi Pharm saw its sales fall to 239.59 million yuan, down 7.1 percent year-on-year, due to external factors such as the Chinese government’s policy to lower medicine prices.