SK Biopharma's epilepsy treatment posts impressive growth in US

South Korean SK Biopharmaceuticals' epilepsy treatment Cenobamate has seen rapid growth on the US market.

The company on Thursday said the medication's sales in the first three quarters hit 119.4 billion won ($89 million), with the third quarter alone seeing growth of 17.6% to 47.4 billion won from the 40.3 billion won in the second. The three-quarter performance is 2.5 times the 19.9 billion won earned in the same period last year. 

The number of prescriptions for the drug also rose 12% from the second quarter to 45,000 in the third.

SK Pharmaceuticals Chief Financial Officer Jung Ji-young said, "Meeting our sales target of 160 billion won on the US market is possible."

The company is also expected to exceed its global sales target of 185 billion won, including Europe. Discovered as a drug candidate in 2001, Cenobamate received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2019 after undergoing clinic tests in America.

SK Biopharmaceuticals also directly sells Cenobamate under the brand Xcopri in the US.

On a consolidated basis, third-quarter sales reached 88.8 billion won, four times the 24 billion won from the second year on year. Operating losses plummeted from 49.9 billion won from the year before to just 9.2 billion won.

A company source said cash inflows from technology exports to Latin America improved the profit structure.

Cumulative sales in the third quarter dipped 2.4% to 183.4 billion won from the same period last year and operating losses jumped from 39.1 billion won to 86.5 billion won. This was due to the negative base effect stemming from major earnings improvement with the continuation of Cenobamate technology exports last year to China and Canada. 

An SK Biopharmaceuticals source said, "As well as Cenobamate, we will accelerate our development of new next-generation drugs to treat epilepsy, schizophrenia and targeted types of cancer."

Write to Jae-Young Han at jyhan@hankyung.com