Celltrion logs record Q3 profits on strong biosimilar sales

Celltrion reports record Q3 profit of $205.6M on strong biosimilar sales, with revenue rising 4.1 percent to $556.6M.

Celltrion's Zymfentra, the subcutaneous formulation of Remsima, a biosimilar to Janssen Biotech's Remicade, gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October. [CELLTRION]

Celltrion, a biopharmaceutical company, logged a record quarterly profit during the July to September period on strong sales of its copycat drug products worldwide and a contract manufacturing deal from Israel's Teva.

The Incheon-based company posted an operating profit of 267.6 billion won ($205.6 million) for the third quarter, up 25.2 percent on year, in its regulatory filing Tuesday.

The figure beat the market expectation of 225.8 billion won compiled by FnGuide.

Revenue rose 4.1 percent on year to 672.3 billion won, above the analyst forecast of 628.6 billion won.

Both revenue and operating profit are record high for quarterly earnings results, according to Celltrion.

Net profit surged 32.58 percent to 221.2 billion won, also surpassing the expectation of 171.9 billion won.

Celltrion cited the market share expansion in major markets including the United States and the European region, driven by its biosimilar drugs such as Remsima and Yuflyma.

Celltrion’s Remsima, an infliximab biosimilar to Janssen Biotech's inflammatory bowel disease treatment Remicade, and Zymfentra, the subcutaneous formulation of Remsima, together amassed 69.8 percent of the infliximab market share in five major European markets combined, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain.

Truxima, a blood cancer treatment, accounted for 22.3 percent of the European market share, and Herzuma, a stomach and breast cancer treatment, 21.7 percent.

In the United States, where Remsima is marketed as Inflectra, the infliximab biosimilar took 29.9 percent of the market, and ranked first among biosimilar drugs.

Celltrion recently received sales approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Zymfentra as the first and only FDA-approved SC formulation of infliximab.

The company is heading to a merger with Celltrion Healthcare, a marketing company, which will be completed by Dec. 28. The resulting company, Celltrion, will merge with Celltrion Pharm, which handles domestic sales of Celltrion’s drug products.

The company hopes to achieve annual revenue of 12 trillion won by 2030.

Celltrion Healthcare posted an operating profit of 50.5 billion won, down 30.35 percent on year, and net profit of 44.8 billion won, down 67.44 percent. Revenue came in at 647.6 billion won, up 30.45 percent on year.

Celltrion's share price closed at 155,600 won on Kospi, down 1.46 percent from the previous trading session, on Tuesday.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]