Celltrion Q3 operating profit tops W500 bil. mark for 1st time
Celltrion's Plant 1 in Incheon / Courtesy of Celltrion
Biotech company Celltrion said Monday that its operating profit for the third quarter of 2026 is expected to surpass the 500 billion won ($374.3 million) mark for the first time, driven by robust sales in global markets.
In its earnings guidance released Monday, the company forecast 1.5 trillion won in sales and 510 billion won in operating profit for the three-month period, representing year-on-year increases of 45.8 percent and 69.2 percent, respectively.
Both sales and operating profit reached record quarterly highs, with operating profit surpassing 500 billion won for the first time since the company's establishment. Celltrion said its profitability has improved due to a growing share of high-margin products in its sales mix and improvements in its cost structure.
Earlier this year, Celltrion set quarterly operating profit targets of more than 300 billion won for the first quarter, 400 billion won for the second and 500 billion won for the third. The company said it has exceeded its targets in each of the first three quarters, demonstrating that its profit growth has progressed as planned.
The company attributed the record-high third-quarter earnings to the expanded sales in Europe, the U.S. and other major markets.
In Europe, prescriptions and tender wins for newer products, particularly Remsima SC and Omlyclo, continued to increase. Omlyclo, which is sold in 26 European countries, captured a market share of more than 90 percent in Spain as of July this year, according to the company. In Denmark, the biosimilar is expected to secure a market share of more than 98 percent by the end of this year after winning a government contract to supply the drug nationwide.
The company said the European market tends to concentrate major tenders and product deliveries in the second half of the year, accelerating its sales growth further in the fourth quarter.
A similar upward trend was observed in the U.S., where Steqeyma and Yuflyma captured market shares of 15 percent and 11 percent, respectively, in August. Truxima and Inflectra also maintained solid market shares of 39 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
Omlyclo was launched in the U.S. earlier this month as the first biosimilar of its kind to enter the market. Upon its launch, the drug was included as a preferred medication on the commercial insurance formulary of Optum, one of the three largest pharmacy benefit managers in the U.S. The listing is expected to boost the drug's sales and contribute to Celltrion's earnings for the fourth quarter.
“Our operating profit surpassed the 500 billion won mark for the first time in the third quarter, and we have exceeded our quarterly operating profit targets for three consecutive quarters,” a Celltrion official said. “We will continue expanding the share of high-margin products and improving our cost structure, while working to meet our full-year business target.”