Accumulated exports of K-Biosimilars reach ₩9Tril

becomes a trusted cash cow

Celltrion’s accumulated exports reach ₩6.3 trillion…Remsima ₩3.7 trillion

Samsung Bioepis recovers from COVID-19 slump… sales reach near ₩3 trillion

Cumulative exports of biosimilars developed by Celltrion and Samsung Bioepis exceeded ₩9 trillion.

 

Growth has slowed compared to the products’ first market entry, however, the products have been marking stable growth based on their solid pipeline.

 

◆Celltrion Healthcare exports ₩789.5billion in H1…cumulative sales exceed ₩6 trillion According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 19th, Celltrion Healthcare’s exports reached ₩789.5 billion, a 1.6% increase from the ₩777.2 billion in the same period last year.

 

Although growth was not as explosive as in the previous year, the company still recorded large-scale overseas exports.

 

Celltrion Healthcare is an affiliate of Celltrion that has Celltrion Healthcare Holdings (share 24.3%) as its largest shareholder.

 

Celltrion Healthcare sells antibody biosimilar products that it received from Celltrion to global distributors.

 

In other words, Celltrion Healthcare’s sales refer to the export performance of biosimilars developed by Celltrion.

 

Celltrion Healthcare is selling 4 biosimilar products including ‘Remsima,’ ‘Truxima,’ ‘Herzuma,’ and ‘Remsima SC’ in the global market.

 

Remsima’s original is Janssen’s ‘Remicade.’ Remsima SC is a subcutaneous injection formulating of Remsima.

 

Truxima and Herzuma are biosimilars of ‘MabThera’ and ‘Herceptin,’ respectively.

 

By each product, Remsima sold the most in exports, recording ₩302.1 billion in H1 this year.

 

Adding Remsima SC(₩35.1), the Remsima brand sold ₩337.3 billion in exports in H1 this year.

 

Remsima is the first biosimilar product that was approved in 2012.

 

It had annually recorded the highest export sales among all Celltrion’s biosimilars but was outrun by Truxima’s record of ₩786.8 billion last year.

 

However, this year, sales of Remsima again surpassed that of Truxima and became the No.1 product in exports.

 

Truxima’s export sales fell 25.3% YOY from ₩365.8 billion to ₩273.3 billion in H1 this year.

 

The company explained that Truxima’s sales in Q1, which saw a 32.6% YOY decrease to mark ₩109.7 billion, was due to a temporary adjustment in the supply schedule of its products.

 

Herzuma’s export sales in H1 this year were ₩102.3 billion, a 25.7% YOY increase.

 

Herzuma’s share in the European market in Q1 was 15%, a slight decrease from the 19% it held in Q1 last year.

 

However, in the Japanese market, its share exceeded that of its originator Herceptin, to record 50%.

 

This was more than a twofold market expansion in a single year from the 25% share it held in Q1 last year.

 

Celltrion Healthcare, which was listed on KOSDAQ in 2017, has been recording its export performance in its business report since 2014.

 

Since 2014, Remsima and Remsima SC have recorded the most in exports with a cumulative record of ₩3.7123 trillion.

 

Truxima, which started making export performance in 2017, marked ₩1.9925 trillion, and Herzuma’s cumulative exports amounted to ₩575.1 billion.

 

On whole, Celltrion Healthcare’s cumulative exports from 2014 to H1 this year marked ₩6.3 trillion.

 

◆Samsung Bioepis makes ₩354.2 billion in H1… cumulative sales record ₩2.0889 trillion Samsung Bioepis’s operating profit last year was ₩145 billion, an 18.1% YOY increase from the same period of the previous year.

 

Since it recorded its first profit in 2019 with ₩122.8 billion, its profit has grown even more in a single year.

 

Samsung Bioepis recorded ₩187.5 billion in sales in Q2, which is a 22.7% YOY increase.

 

The company had continued on a downward roll since Q3 of last year, when it recorded its all-time high with ₩236.9 billion, however, in only 2 quarters since then, the company has recovered its performance to a level similar to its pre-COVID-19 performance.

 

The accumulated sales of Samsung Bioepis in the 1H of this year rose 5.5% compared to the same period of last year, to record ₩354.2 billion Most of its sales were generated from overseas sales of the company’s self-developed biosimilars.

 

Samsung Bioepis had succeeded in commercializing 5 biosimilars of biopharmaceuticals – ‘Enbrel,’ ‘Remicade,’ ‘Herceptin,’ ‘Humira,’ and ‘Avastin.’

In the global market, the company has signed marketing partnership agreements with multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Biogen and Organon to sell its products.

 

Biogen is in charge of the local distribution and sales of the three autoimmune treatments, ‘ Benepali,’ ‘Flixabi,’ and ‘Imraldi.’ Organon (formerly known as MSD) is selling the three products in countries other than the U.S., Korea, and China, as ‘Renflexis (Remicade biosimilar), ‘Brenzys (Enbrel biosimilar),’ ‘Hadlima (Humira biosimilar).’ Organon is also in charge of selling the two anticancer drugs - the Herceptin biosimilar ‘Ontruzant’ and Avastin biosimilar ‘Avincio’ – abroad.

 

According to performance reports by Biogen and Organon, biosimilars of Samsung Bioepis had made $573 million (approximately ₩675 billion) in H1 this year.

 

Sales made by Biogen rose 4.3% YOY to record $407 million (approximately ₩470 billion).

 

Sales made with biosimilars through Organon were $166 million (approximately ₩195 billion).

 

Although the drugs sold less in comparison to its performance in the European market, its growth of 43.4% YoY has been received positively due to its growth potential.

 

Due to the preorders that were made in Q1, sales in Q2 had decreased, then rose sharply in the second half of the year with the technology fee (milestone payments) from signing biosimilar license agreements with Chinese companies such as S Bio and C-Bridge Capital in 2019 being reflected in the revenue.

 

This year, sales have stabilized to record ₩166.7 billion in Q1 and ₩187.5 billion in Q2.

 

Samsung Bioepis, which was established in 2012, had shown full growth since recording ₩147.5 billion in sales in 2016.

 

Last year, sales increased over fivefold compared to four years ago.

 

Since its launch in 2012, Samsung Bioepis has recorded a cumulative sales of ₩ 2.8895 trillion.

 

Most of Samsung Bioepis' sales come from overseas sales of biosimilars or technology fees.

 

Its domestic sales contributions are small compared to exports.

 

In other words, Celltrion and Samsung Bioepis’ combined exports of biosimilars recorded over ₩ 9 trillion in total.