April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Yuhan regained its top spot by sales among South Korean pharmaceutical companies, boosted by strong sales of new diabetes and hypertension treatments.

The company posted record sales of 1.32 trillion won (US$1.15 billion) in 2016, up 17 percent on-year while its operating profit rose 13.9 percent to 92.8 billion won in a regulatory filing on Feb. 21.

The strong growth was driven by the treatments license deals between Yuhan and global drugmakers, which included Gilead Sciences’ hepatitis B virus treatment Viread, Lilly‘s diabetes medications Tradjenta and high blood pressure drugs Twynsta developed by Boehringer Ingelheim.

Last year, Yuhan lost its top position to Hanmi Pharmaceutical which logged the largest sales in 2015 thanks to massive tech export agreements. But its sales last year dropped 33 percent to 882.7 billion won as some of the deals faced setbacks.

In a separate regulatory filing, Yuhan announced per share of 2,000 won for common share and 2,050 won for preferred share. This amounted to a total payout of 20.5 billion won.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)