Celltrion Reports Record-High Quarterly Results in Q2 with Sales Reaching 1.39 Trillion Won

Operating Profit Reaches 451.8 Billion Won

Operating Margin at 32.4%

New Product Sales Surge by 76%

Celltrion achieved a new record for its highest-ever quarterly results in the second quarter, driven by expanded sales of new biosimilars and improved cost ratios.

On July 27, Celltrion announced that its consolidated sales for the second quarter reached 1.3937 trillion won, with operating profit at 451.8 billion won. Compared to the same period last year, sales increased by 45% and operating profit by 86.3%. This marks a new all-time high for quarterly sales for two consecutive quarters, following the first quarter. The operating margin rose by 7.2 percentage points to 32.4%. Compared to the provisional results released on July 3, final confirmed numbers show that sales were up by 93.7 billion won and operating profit by 21.8 billion won.

The simultaneous improvement in scale and profitability is attributed to a shift in the portfolio towards high-profit new products. While flagship products such as Remsima, Truxima, and Herzuma maintained their market positions, sales of new products surged by 76% year-on-year, accounting for 65% of total biopharmaceutical sales. Remsima SC surpassed a 32% market share in the five major European countries, while prescriptions for Zymfentra in the U.S. continued to increase. Yuflyma remained the top product in the European adalimumab market.

Five new products—Aidengelt, Aptozuma, Omniclo, Stoboclo·Osenvelt, and Stekima—that began full-scale global sales last year, recorded combined quarterly sales exceeding 300 billion won. This represents a 49% increase from the previous quarter. The company aims to further expand the share of these new products to around 70% in the second half of the year by increasing the number of countries and indications covered upon launch.

Another pillar of profitability improvement was cost control. The cost of goods sold ratio for the second quarter was 38%, down 5.4 percentage points from the same period last year and 2.1 percentage points from the previous quarter. This was the result of an improved product mix, the depletion of high-cost inventories, enhanced production yields, and process optimization. The company also highlighted the emergence of strong operating leverage, as the rate of increase in operating profit far exceeded that of sales growth.

Aerial view of Celltrion Plant 2 in Songdo, Incheon. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

Celltrion emphasized that it achieved an operating margin in the 30% range even while recording R&D expenses as current period costs. Unlike a contract manufacturing-centric business model, the company has maintained its profitability despite carrying the investment burden for follow-up biosimilars and new drug pipelines. Celltrion plans to build a portfolio of 18 products by 2030 by developing biosimilars for autoimmune disease treatments such as Ocrevus, Cosentyx, and Taltz, as well as anticancer drug biosimilars like Keytruda and Darzalex. The company is also expanding its new drug portfolio into areas such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), multi-antibody therapies, and obesity treatments.

With the supply of tender volumes to major countries, inclusion on U.S. pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) formularies, and year-end inventory stocking demand from distributors as contributing factors, Celltrion expects growth in the second half of the year to outpace that of the first half. Through these drivers, Celltrion aims to exceed its early-year goals of 5.3 trillion won in annual sales and 1.8 trillion won in operating profit.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.