Drug maker Boryung targets its highest-ever sales in 2024

Boryung Corp., formerly Boryung Pharmaceutical Co., aims to join the 1 trillion won ($748 million) sales club this year, driven by new chronic disease drugs and product diversification, to become the country’s No. 1 pharmaceutical company by 2032, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Since the launch of Kanarb, the first domestically-developed hypertension drug in 2011, Boryung has rolled out various combination drugs, the major contributor to its earnings growth.

This year, the 67-year-old company is expected to gain new momentum from HK inno.N’s blockbuster drug K-CAB tablets. It added the reflux esophagitis treatment to its portfolio as its new distributor.

“We will open the era of 1 trillion won in sales this year, leaping forward to become a leading pharmaceutical company,” Boryung’s Chief Executive Daniel Chang told The Korea Economic Daily in an interview.

“We will focus all our capabilities on strengthening the competitiveness of our prescription drugs for chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, cancer and diabetes,” said the CEO, also known by his Korean name Chang Doo-hyun.

In its earnings guidance following the release of its 2023 results on Tuesday, the company said its operating profit is forecast to spike 24% on-year to 85 billion won, with sales up 16% to 1 trillion won.

If it achieves the targets, its sales will double in five years, compared to 500 billion won in 2019.

Between 2020 and 2023, its operating profit has grown 20% on-year on average, with sales up 15%.

Boryung has seen little impact from trainee doctors’ walkout since late February to protest the government’s plan to drastically increase medical school admissions, which cast a shadow over the business outlook for general hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.

The company is striving to catch up to its traditional rivals in Korea, including Yuhan Corp., Green Cross Corp., Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp., Kwangdong Pharmaceutical Co., Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. and Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., which have already joined the 1 trillion won sales club.

"We have put our efforts into increasing both sales and profitability based on our product development capabilities, portfolio reshuffling centered on growing items and streamlining sales marketing," Jang said.

Alongside HK inno.N’s K-CAB tablets, US-based Baxter International’s inhalation anesthetic agent for surgery and other blockbuster new drugs are expected to give a leg-up to Boryung’s sales.

Kanarb broke the conventional belief that a domestically-developed novel drug cannot make a profit.

Prescription sales of the Kanarb line have more than doubled to 169.7 billion won in 2023, versus 72.8 billion won in 2018. By 2026, Boryung targets 200 billion won in sales of the Kanarb line.

It has cemented its No. 1 position as the most-prescription drug maker in terms of sales in Korea among the domestically-developed novel treatments. In its first year of launch in 2011, the medication raked in 10 billion won in sales.

Boryung has also been aggressive in acquiring legacy brands to roll out their generics as soon as their patent ended, making up the lion’s share in the domestic anticancer drug market.

It is developing a lymphoma treatment. By around 2028, the company aims to secure new drug candidates for diabetes, central nervous system (CNS) disease and liver disease, in addition to cancer treatments.

Write to Ji-Hyun Lee at bluesky@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.