Oscotec Reports Q1 Sales of 3.65 Billion Won, Up 88% Year-on-Year

Operating Loss of 9.99 Billion Won Driven by Continued R&D Investment

Oscotec announced on the 14th that, on a consolidated basis, its sales for the first quarter of this year reached 3.65 billion won, while it recorded an operating loss of 9.99 billion won.

First-quarter sales increased by 88.4% compared to the same period last year. According to the company, this is due to royalty income reflecting the global sales expansion of Lazertinib, an EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer treatment that was out-licensed to Yuhan Corporation in the preclinical stage in 2015.

The operating loss was attributed to continued investment in clinical trials and research and development (R&D) of key pipelines. R&D expenses for the first quarter amounted to 6.35 billion won, a slight increase from 5.54 billion won in the same period last year. The company stated that, rather than focusing on short-term profit and loss, it is concentrating on strengthening the competitiveness of follow-up pipelines and platform technologies based on Lazertinib-related revenue and its liquidity holdings.

On this day, Oscotec also disclosed that it would receive 10.2 million dollars (approximately 1.52 billion won) on a consolidated basis from the Lazertinib European commercialization milestone, which Yuhan Corporation received from Janssen Biotech. This comes one year and six months after receiving marketing approval as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer from the European Commission (EC) in December 2024. Oscotec expects that royalties and milestone revenues from the global commercialization of Lazertinib will serve as the foundation for its mid- to long-term growth.

Oscotec is nurturing the anti-resistance anticancer agent platform "OCT-598" as a core pillar of its mid- to long-term R&D strategy. This month, the company established a Technology Platform Team within its research institute and recently appointed Dr. Grailhe Regis, who led the image-based drug efficacy screening platform at Institut Pasteur Korea for the past decade, as the team leader.

The Technology Platform Team plans to build a platform for searching, analyzing, and verifying mechanisms and targets related to the development of resistance to cancer therapy, and to expand research through artificial intelligence (AI) and systems biology-based analysis in the future. Currently, clinical phase 1 trials for OCT-598 are underway, and the company aims to raise the possibility of early-stage technology transfer and secure new growth drivers after Lazertinib in the mid- to long-term.

The anti-fibrotic agent for kidney disease, OCT-648, is in the preclinical stage. In March, at the World Congress of Nephrology (WCN) held in Yokohama, Japan, Oscotec presented proof-of-concept (PoC) results from animal models for its preclinical candidate group.

An Oscotec official stated, "First-quarter sales increased year-on-year as royalty income from Lazertinib was reflected," and added, "Based on the financial foundation including revenue and milestones related to Lazertinib, we will focus on strengthening the competitiveness of follow-up pipelines, including the anti-resistance anticancer platform."

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