LG Chem Life Science achieves new quarterly sales record

...sales rise 18% in one year

Q2 sales record ₩205.2 billion… Zemiglo series, growth hormone enjoy strong sales

Operating profit falls from ₩29.1 billion to ₩24.2 billion… influenced by the increased R&D expenses

LG Chem’s Life Science company, which is in charge of the company’s pharmaceutical business, has broken its quarterly sales record in the second quarter of this year.

 

Its flagship products - the Zemiglo series and growth hormone - had shown strong sales performance in Korea and abroad, rising nearly 20% in one year.

 

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 24th, LG Chem’s Life Science sector recorded ₩205.2 billion in sales in Q2 this year.

 

This is a 17.8% increase from the ₩174.2 billion made in Q2 last year.

 

The cumulative sales in 1H this year were ₩408 billion.

 

If the company maintains the current growth rate, it may record sales of nearly ₩1 trillion by the end of the year.

 

The company has continued stable growth despite the prolonged COVID-19 crisis.

 

Compared to Q2 2019 (₩152.3 billion) before the COVID-19 crisis, this is a 34.8% increase made in three years.

 

This strong growth is interpreted to be the result of the strong performance shown by the company’s flagship product, “Zemiglo” series, the growth hormone “Eutrophin,” and hyaluronic acid injection for arthritis, “Synovian inj.” According to LG Chem, combined sales of the DPP-4 inhibitor type diabetes treatment “Zemiglo (gemigliptin),” its metformin combo “Zemimet,” and rosuvastatin combo “Zemiro,” recorded ₩32.6 billion in Q2 this year.

 

The series recorded a 3% external growth compared to the ₩31.5 billion in Q2 last year and maintained its lead among DPP-4 inhibitor class diabetes treatments in Korea.

 

In the same period, its domestic market share increased from 21.1% to 22.5%.

 

In the case of Eutropin, another flagship product, its market share increased by 1%p from 41.0% to 42.0% in the The flagship products performed well in both the domestic and overseas markets.

 

LG Chem Life Science’s exports increased 17.3% from the same period last year from ₩65.3 billion to ₩76.5 billion in Q2 this year.

 

Domestic market sales increased 18.1% from ₩109 billion to ₩128.7 billion during the same period.

 

However, the operating profits of the Life Science company in Q2 decreased 16.6% from ₩29.1 billion to ₩24.2 billion.

 

LG Chem explained that profitability had decreased somewhat due to the rise of R&D expenses in line with progress made in the company’s clinical trials.

 

LG Chem is conducting various clinical trials in Korea and abroad.

 

In Korea, the company received approval for the Phase III clinical trial protocol of its precocious puberty treatment candidate “GPP001” in June.

 

When development is completed, it is expected to create further synergy with the company’s existing growth hormone Eutropin.

 

The company had also completed a Phase 3 clinical trial of the Zemiglo+metformin+dapagliflozin combination.

 

In June, the combination was approved under the name of Zemidapa.

 

Dapagliflozin is an SGLT-2 inhibitor class diabetes treatment, and if development is completed, Zemidapa is expected to become the company’s fourth Zemiglo series drug.

 

The company is also developing new drugs for hereditary obesity and gout abroad.

 

Among them, the company applied for a Phase III clinical trial for its new gout drug candidate “tigulixostat” to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 1st.

 

Also, the company is participating in the development of the immuno-oncology drug ‘CUE-102’ with its partner, Cue Biopharma.

 

LG Chem owns the exclusive right to develop and market CUE-102 in 11 Asian countries including Korea, China, and Japan.

 

LG Chem explained, “We plan to further expand R&D investment to develop global new drugs.

 

In particular, we will focus on oncology which has high growth potential, and diabetes and metabolic diseases where we own extensive R&D experience.”