Hanmi Pharmaceutical reports record-high revenue in 2022

South Korea's Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. last year saw record-high performance thanks to its self-developed drugs, surpassing its previous best year of 2015, when half of sales came from technology export fees for new drug candidates.

Considered a prestigious brand of incrementally modified drugs (IMDs), the company plans to become a leader in new drug development through the launch in the US of its innovative new drug Rolontis. Called Rolvedon on the American market, Rolontis is used to treat neutropenia, a condition featuring an unusually low concentration of neutrophils, or a type of white blood cell that fights infection in the body.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical on Wednesday said sales last year reached 1.33 trillion won ($1.05 billion), up 10.7% from 2021 and the highest since the company's foundation in 1973. Operating profit rose 25.2% to 157 billion won and net profit grew 17.4% to 95.7 billion won over the same period.

The company's previous sales record was 1.31 trillion won in 2015, when it earned 512.5 billion won alone from exports of new drug technology through foreign pharmaceutical companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen and Sanofi. Last year's performance, however, differed from that achieved seven years ago in that the company exceled without large-scale technology exports.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical's sales on the domestic prescription drug market last year was No. 1 for the fifth straight year with 789.1 billion won. The growth in sales was largely due to the IMDs Rosuzet, a combination drug used for hyperlipidemia that raked in 140.3 billion won last year, and the high blood pressure compounds Amosartan, Amosartan Plus, Amosartan Q and Amosartan XQ, whose collective sales reached 130.5 billion won.

In addition, rising prescription volume of the IMD Esomezol, which is used to treat reflux esophagitis, led to sales of 54.6 billion won, as 18 of the company's drugs were blockbusters with sales of 10 billion won each.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical's subsidiaries in China also saw rapid growth. Beijing Hanmi Drugs, Ltd. earned sales of 350.6 billion won last year, the first time since 1996 for the figure to break 300 billion won.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical this year is also expected to see stellar results in new drugs. Rolvedon, launched in October last year in the US by Spectrum, earned an estimated $10 million in sales within three months. Through combined sales of $60 million this year, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is forecast to earn about 13 billion won from sales of the neutropenia medicine's original formula and royalties.

In the first half of this year, the results of Phase 2 clinical trials of epinopegdutide and efocipegtrutide, two drug candidates for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or liver inflammation and damage caused by fat buildup, are expected. The findings of the trials could lead to more technology transfer deals for Hanmi Pharmaceutical, according to stock analysts.

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