SK Chemical’s pharma biz recorded sales of 376.1 bil. won

last year, despite being in talks for sale

Q4 sales reached 1 trillion won, the first time quarterly sales reached this amount. Its major prescription drugs performed well

SK Chemical's pharmaceutical business, which is to be sold, has reached its sales peak.

 

The company's pharmaceuticals and new drugs under contract have demonstrated stable growth in the prescription market.

 

On the 8th, SK Chemical reported that its pharmaceutical business generated sales of 376.1 won last year, representing an increase of 19.9% YoY.

 

The operating profit for the same period was 31.5 billion won, showing a slight decrease of 6.3% YoY.

 

Last year, the sales of SK Chemical’s pharmaceutical business recorded the highest amount in its history.

 

In Q4 of last year, SK Chemical’s pharmaceutical business generated sales of 105.8 billion won, marking an increase of 32.4% YoY.

 

As a result, the quarterly sales exceeded 100 billion won for the first time.

 

The Quarterly sales of SK Chemical Pharmaceutical business (Left) Operating Profit (Right) trend (Unit: 100 million won, Source: SK Chemical).

In the prescription market, SK Chemical’s primary products performed well.

 

According to UBIST, a pharmaceutical market research company, the total prescription sales of ‘Joins,’ an osteoarthritis treatment, was 48.3 billion won last year, reflecting a 2.3% YoY increase.

 

Despite being launched in 2002, Joins, a natural medicine developed by SK Chemical, continues to perform well in the market even after 20 years.

 

The blood circulation improvement drug ‘Ginexin-F’ has generated prescription sales of 26 billion won, marking a 12.3% YoY compared to the prescription volume of the previous year.

 

The prescription sales of Arthritis treatment Feburic in Q2 of last year amounted to 18.7 billion won, an increase by 20.2% YoY.

 

Ultracet, a new drug introduced by SK Chemical, is showing significant growth.

 

In February 2021, SK Chemical signed a domestic sales contract with Janssen to distribute painkiller Ultracet in Korea.

 

The agreement included four products of Ultracet Tab, Ultracet Semi Tab, Ultracet ER Tab, and Ultracet ER Semi Tab.

 

In the last year, Ultracet ER Tab generated outpatient prescription sales of 22.7 billion won, a 13.8% YoY increase.

 

The analysis suggests that the surge in patients with influenza and common cold following Covid-19 endemic increased demand for painkillers, thereby resulting in the rise in prescriptions of Ultracet.

 

SK Chemical is in talks with Korean private equity fund (PEF) Glenwood Private Equity Co (Glenwood PE) to sell its pharmaceutical business.

 

SK Chemical is in the process of selling its pharmaceutical business.

 

In September of last year, the company announced that “We are reviewing terms for selling the pharmaceutical division and we have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) before the contract.” The selling price is expected to be around 600 billion won.

 

“We are discussing specific terms,” SK Chemical provided further explanation last month in an official announcement.

 

If SK Chemical divests its pharmaceutical business, it will focus solely on its green chemical business, including copolyesters and functional materials.

 

SK Chemical sold its bioenergy business in 2020.

 

SK Chemical spun off its blood and vaccine businesses into separate entities.

 

In May 2015, the company established SK Plasma to specialize in blood products, followed by SK Bioscience, which focuses on vaccines, in July 2018.