K-Pharma and Bio Continue Growth Amid COVID-19... 'Annual Sales of 3 Trillion Won' Expected

SD Biosensor Approaches 3 Trillion Won Milestone Hard Even for Large Corporations
SK Bioscience's Operating Profit Soars 1158%... Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Production

Incheon Songdo Samsung Biologics Plant 3 (Photo by Samsung Biologics)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic pharmaceutical and bio companies showed remarkable performance growth last year.

According to financial information firm FnGuide on the 13th, the estimated sales of 11 major listed pharmaceutical and bio companies (SD Biosensor, Celltrion, Celltrion Healthcare, Yuhan Corporation, Green Cross, Samsung Biologics, Seegene, Chong Kun Dang, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, SK Bioscience) are expected to have increased by an average of 22.0% compared to the previous year.

Among the companies that have announced their results so far, Samsung Biologics recorded the highest sales. Samsung Biologics posted annual sales of 1.568 trillion KRW, growing 34.6%, marking four consecutive years of sales exceeding 1 trillion KRW, and maintained solid growth with an operating profit of 537.3 billion KRW, up 83.5%. This is attributed to the increased operating rate of the third plant and the reflected effect of contract manufacturing organization (CMO) sales for the Moderna vaccine, which began full-scale shipments.

SK Bioscience recorded explosive growth with sales increasing by 311.8% to 929 billion KRW and operating profit soaring 1157.5% to 474.2 billion KRW. This is analyzed as the result of focusing on COVID-19 vaccine production from the early stages of the pandemic. Starting from the 14th, domestic inoculation of the Novavax vaccine begins, and the company is continuously entering the global market. If the first domestically developed vaccine ‘GBP510’ receives approval within this year, even steeper growth is expected.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical also continued its growth with operating profit increasing 1.6 times. It announced sales of 1.2061 trillion KRW and operating profit of 127.4 billion KRW on the 27th of last month. Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s major improved and combination new drugs such as the ‘Amozaltan Family’ led sales, while Beijing Hanmi Pharmaceutical in China contributed to performance improvement with sales of 288.7 billion KRW and operating profit of 66.9 billion KRW.

Chong Kun Dang recorded its highest-ever sales of 1.3436 trillion KRW, a 3.1% increase from the previous year. However, in terms of profit, operating profit and net profit sharply declined by 22.0% and 51.5% respectively, to 96.7 billion KRW and 43.8 billion KRW. This is analyzed to be due to one-time costs and increased research and development expenses.

On the 10th, a notice of self-test kit sold out was posted at a pharmacy in downtown Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

Among companies that have not yet recorded sales, the most notable is SD Biosensor. While many large pharmaceutical and bio companies have surpassed annual sales of 1 trillion KRW, crossing the 2 trillion KRW threshold has been difficult. However, the small and medium-sized company SD Biosensor is expected to approach 3 trillion KRW in sales last year.

SD Biosensor’s estimated annual sales last year were 2.9207 trillion KRW, a 73.2% increase from the previous year. Its cumulative sales for the first three quarters of last year already surpassed 2.4862 trillion KRW, easily exceeding 2 trillion KRW. Although quarterly sales have shown a declining trend, considering the global spread of the Omicron variant from December, there is a possibility that sales will increase again this year.

Despite annual research and development (R&D) costs being at the 10 billion KRW level, SD Biosensor’s swift response to COVID-19, including starting diagnostic kit development even before domestic confirmed cases occurred, is evaluated as effective. Diagnostic kit company Seegene also showed remarkable growth, with estimated sales of 1.3446 trillion KRW, a 19.5% increase from 2020, making it likely to achieve annual sales of 1 trillion KRW for two consecutive years, highlighting the impressive growth of diagnostic kit companies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.