SK Biopharmaceuticals logs record earnings on back of strong Xcopri sales in US

SK Biopharmaceuticals has turned in its best first-quarter earnings — 227.9 billion won ($157 million) in sales and 89.8 billion won in operating profit — as sales of its seizure medicine Cenobamate continued to grow in the US.

According to the company, operating profit increased by 94 percent from the previous quarter while jumping about 250 percent from the same period last year.

Though the January to March period bore more research and development and marketing costs, the Korean drugmaker stressed the record quarterly operating profit indicates entry into a positive cycle: generating sustainable profit from Cenobamate sales and investing the cash flow into R&D

Sales of Cenobamate, sold as Xcopri in the US, reached 197.7 billion won in the first quarter, up 48.4 percent on year, to drive the company’s revenue growth. According to the company, monthly Xcorpi subscriptions neared 47,000 in March, and over 2,000 new subscriptions were issued — an all-time high.

SK Biopharmaceuticals now seeks to extend Xcopri’s commercial lifespan and broaden its reach in the US through both expanded indication and diversified formulation. The company also plans to expand its presence in other parts of the world: It began commercializing the drug in China in March and is applying for the drug's approval in Japan, which it hopes to receive before the end of the year.

SK Biopharmaceutical added that it plans to leverage cash flow generated from Cenobamate to strengthen disease-modifying treatment capabilities in central nervous system disorders, establish a sustainable radiopharmaceutical therapy value chain, and accelerate discovery of novel pipelines through targeted protein degradation platforms.

“Among Korean biotech firms, SK Biopharmaceuticals is the only company with sustainable profit growth through new drug sales,” said an SK Biopharmaceutical official.

“The structure, in which profits continue to rise while expanding investments into new pipelines, is the defining characteristic of a ‘big biotech company’, and SK Biopharmaceuticals has already entered that virtuous cycle. We plan to share our experiences and infrastructures in developing new drugs with both Korean and Asian bio ecosystems, cooperate and grow together with them.”