Daewoong Pharmaceutical registers consolidated annual sales in 2021 at KRW 1.153 trillion, reflecting a growth of 9.2% y-o-y, and operating profit and net profit marked KRW 88.9 billion and KRW 31.6 billion, up 423% and 31.3% y-o-y respectively.

According to separate financial statement, Daewoong delivered KRW 1.055 trillion in sales, KRW 95.5 billion in operating profit and KRW 40.5 billion in net profit.

The increase in last year's sales and record operating sales reflected KRW 1.1 trillion worth overseas technology transfer of Fexuclue tablets, Daewoong's gastroesophageal reflux disease drugs which received new drug approval by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of Korea late last year, rapid export growth of Nabota, a botulinum toxin product which had settled all legal disputes in and outside Korea and is currently marketed under the name Jeuveau in the U.S., and a stable growth of highly profitable ethical-the-counter (ETC) drugs.

In 2021, Daewoong invested KRW 127.3 billion, which exceeds 10% of its annual sales revenue, in R&D, and created the business cycle that the R&D outcome leads the growth of sales and operating profit and assures new growth engine. The company saw business upturns and made key achievements last year; it received new drug approval of Fexuclue tablets and generated more than KRW 1 trillion profits from overseas technology transfer, and this year is expected to introduce Nabota to the world's second and third largest botulinum toxin markets, Europe and China. In China, Daewoong has already submitted a biologics license application. Furthermore, the phase-3 trial of Enavogliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor for diabetes first developed by a Korean pharmaceutical company, was successfully completed earlier this year and showed a strong possibility that Daewoong will successively introduce new drug, following Fexuclue tablets.

"In 2021, we were pleased that our robust R&D investment and efforts drove major results throughout the year, improving social wellbeing with new drug and reporting all-time high revenue," said Sengho Jeon, Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO. "We will propel new drug development and business growth simultaneously this year, in addition to introducing our excellent drugs, including Fexuclue tablets and Nabota, to Korean and overseas markets and accelerating new drug development through proactive partnership."

Daewoong also considers that the prolonged risks and disputes associated with its botulinum toxin business were completely and favorably resolved in 2021, as the criminal lawsuit filed by its competitor was cleared in Korea, and the final ruling of the U.S. International Trade Commission was invalidated, including the import ban. Daewoong sees 2022 will be another record year that it starts to bring tangible improvement in profitability.