HLB Chairman Jin Yang-gon / Courtesy of HLB

By Baek Byung-yeul

Local biotech company HLB posted sales and operating profit records for the first quarter.

The company announced on April 25 that its quarterly sales rose a whopping 1,052 percent from the same period in 2021 to 63.4 billion won ($50.8 million). Its operating profit also came to 18.8 billion won to turn into a surplus. Both sales and operating profit figures were the highest ever recorded by the company.

The company said the improved performance was possible thanks to its healthcare division, loyalty fees for exports of its gastric cancer treatment and its shipping business.

The healthcare division, which mainly manufactures and sells in vitro diagnostic tools, gave an especially big boost to the company's earnings. In January, the company acquired FA, a company specialized in in vitro diagnostic medical devices, and reorganized it into its Healthcare Business Division.

Due to the recent impact of COVID-19, the division saw skyrocketing sales of its diagnostic devices and its sales increased to 120 billion won in 2021 from 8.7 billion won in 2019.

Predicting this year's performance, the company expects it can achieve improved results especially in the new drug development business.

HLB, which holds the global patent for the new anticancer drug Rivoceranib, is preparing to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with the completion of the Phase 3 clinical trials for terminal gastric cancer.

This year, the company is also scheduled to complete the second phase of clinical trials for adenocarcinoma and the Phase 3 global clinical trials for hepatocellular carcinoma. HLB said it would submit NDAs for two indications within a year.

In March, it first received royalties for terminal gastric cancer treatments on sale in China from Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, which holds the Chinese copyright for Rivoceranib.

"In addition to the development of global anticancer drugs, HLB, which has grown through challenges and innovations over the past decades, will grow into a global bio company through the development of first and best-in-class anticancer drugs for various cancers," said Baek Yoon-ki, the company's vice president of financial strategy.