Ilyang Pharmaceutical Co., known in Korea for its health drink Wonbi-D, has ended the first half in best-ever performance led by novel drugs and its outlook is even more buoyant amid prospects on the preion drugs.

Ilyang Pharm posted 58.4 billion won in sales for the first three months of this year on a consolidated basis, up 10.6 percent from a year ago. Operating profit nearly doubled to a record 7.3 billion won, driven by upbeat sales from its Chinese affiliate and expanded preion of its major products. For the second quarter, the pharmaceutical company is expected to record more than 60 billion won in sales with an operating profit of more than 6 billion won.

The two revenue drivers are Noltec and Supect, which are novel drugs. Supect, a drug to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia was approved as a first-line therapy as of February 1, raising expectations about a further sales growth.

Daewoong Pharm responsible for the distribution of Supect aims to achieve 5 billion won in sales this year. An Ilyang Pharm official responsible for IR said “it takes about one year for a new medication to pass a general hospital’s review board and sales will increase further once the drug is accepted by multiple general hospitals.”

More recently, Ilyang Pharm signed a deal to provide and license out Supect to nine Latin American companies for $22 million, another achievement following a similar contract with partners in Turkey and Russia.

Noltec is also benefiting the company. Noltec emerged as a strong cash cow after additional indication for the treatment of reflux esophagitis in 2012.

The IR manager said “Noltec’s margin reaches 50 percent as its manufacturing cost is just 10 percent. Business performance is improving sharply along with the growth of Noltec sales.”

The company also signed a license deal over the treatment with partner companies in China, the United Arab Emirate, Brazil and Mexico.

“The company’s license deals over Supect and Noltec will increase further in both emerging and developed markets,” said Shin Jae-hoon, an analyst at eBEST Investment & Securities.

The company’s Chinese affiliates show a sound sales growth. Sales of its two Chinese units gained from 65.2 billion won in 2013 to 69.4 billion won in 2014 and to 81.7 billion won in 2015.

On July 11, the company’s investigational MERS virus treatment was selected as a state-backed research project. A total of 3.75 billion won, of which 2.5 billion won will come from the government, will be injected for the research for 57 months.

With this favorable atmosphere, the National Pension Service acquired a more than 5 percent stake in Ilyang Pharm, suggesting the company’s growth potential is appreciated.

Ilyang Pharm paid dividends of 100 won per one common share, or 1.7 billion won in May 2014, but there was no dividend payment last year.

The company stock finished Tuesday at 52,000, down 300 won from the previous day.

By Chae Jong-won

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]