Celltrion 2021 net soars 20% on robust overseas sales

Celltrion Inc., a major South Korean biopharmaceutical firm, said Wednesday that its net profit jumped 20.1 percent on-year last year on the back of robust sales of its biosimilar products in overseas markets.

Net profit came to 623.7 billion won ($521.1 million) last year on a consolidated basis, compared with a profit of 519.2 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Celltrion said its operating profit reached a record high of 753.9 billion won last year, up 5.9 percent on-year. Annual revenue rose 2.3 percent on-year to a record high of 1.89 trillion won.

The company said its biosimilar lineup has maintained a stable presence in overseas markets, noticeably in the United States, citing industry data.

Celltrion said the market share of its Remsima -- a biosimilar copy of Janssen Biotech Inc.'s Remicade -- in the U.S. came to 22.6 percent in the fourth quarter, up 10.8 percentage points from a year earlier.

A correspondent figure for Truxima --a biosimilar drug based on Rituxan, originally developed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding Ltd. -- came to 25.4 percent during the cited quarter, up 5.6 percentage points on-year.

Sales of its Rekirona, a monoclonal antibody with activity against COVID-19, and COVID-19 self-test kits also contributed to last year's stellar performance, Celltrion said. (Yonhap)