Dong-A ST Posts Record-High Revenue of 745.1 Billion Won Last Year

Dong-A ST achieved a record-high annual revenue last year, driven by growth in its ethical drug (ETC) and overseas businesses.

Dong-A ST announced on the 9th that, on a separate financial basis, last year's revenue rose 16.3% year-on-year to 745.1 billion won, marking the highest annual revenue in the company's history. Operating profit came to 27.2 billion won, down 16.1% from the previous year. Dong-A ST stated, "Balanced growth in the ETC segment and the overseas business segment drove the increase in revenue," and added, "Operating profit was sluggish as the company swung to a loss in the fourth quarter of last year due to a higher cost ratio, increased research and development (R&D) expenses, and certain one-off costs."

Exterior view of Dongaeseuti. Dongaeseuti

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Last year, revenue from the ETC segment increased 19% year-on-year to 527.8 billion won. Stable growth of existing flagship products, along with higher sales of in-licensed products, supported this growth. By product, sales were 131.5 billion won for Growth Hormone Agent Grotropin, 38.7 billion won for Dyspepsia Treatment Motilitone, 48.3 billion won for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Treatment Jakyubo, and 16.3 billion won for Precocious Puberty and Prostate Cancer Treatment Diphereline.

Revenue from the overseas business segment climbed 12.8% year-on-year to 170.4 billion won. The Nesp biosimilar Dabepeotin Alfa generated 26.7 billion won in sales, while the Stelara biosimilar Imyldosa recorded 17.6 billion won in sales.

The company also continued to make progress in its R&D segment. DA-1241, a treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and type 2 diabetes being developed through its U.S. affiliate Metavie, has completed its global Phase 2a clinical trial. Obesity treatment DA-1726 is currently in a global Phase 1a clinical trial, and the company plans to conduct an additional Phase 1a trial to explore stepwise dose escalation in the first quarter of this year. Dementia treatment DA-7503 and immuno-oncology agent DA-4505 are both in Phase 1 clinical trials in Korea.

Dong-A ST is strengthening its capabilities in developing new drugs based on next-generation therapeutic modalities through the acquisition of Aptis, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist. It received approval in October last year to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial of DA-3501 (AT-211), a gastric and pancreatic cancer-targeting ADC candidate based on the third-generation ADC linker technology "Abclick," and plans to conduct the Phase 1 trial in the first half of 2026.

A Dong-A ST official said, "We plan to foster key products such as Grotropin and Motilitone into best-in-class products within their categories, and to lay the foundation for continued growth in the ethical drug segment by expanding in-licensed products and reshaping our product portfolio," adding, "In R&D, we will focus on in-house research and development of treatments for cancer and immune diseases, while also bringing in external novel compounds to expand our pipeline."

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