Celltrion's 2025 profit more than doubles on high-margin biosimilars

South Korea's Celltrion delivered the strongest year in its history in 2025, as a wave of newly launched, higher-margin biosimilars and fading merger costs transformed its earnings profile. The Incheon-based drugmaker said operating profit jumped 137.5% from a year earlier to a record 1.17 trillion won (about $880 million), passing the 1 trillion won threshold for the first time.

Revenue climbed 17% to 4.16 trillion won, another all-time high and the company's first year above 4 trillion won. The operating margin widened sharply to 28.1%, up 14.3 percentage points, underscoring a decisive shift toward more profitable products. In the fourth quarter alone, operating profit rose 142% to 475.2 billion won and sales grew 25.1% to 1.33 trillion won, beating the company's own guidance.

Celltrion attributed the improvement largely to better earnings quality following its 2023 merger with sales affiliate Celltrion Healthcare, as newer drugs took a growing share of the mix. Global biosimilar sales rose 24% to 3.86 trillion won, with recently launched products accounting for 54% of that total. Five drugs released in the second half of the year together generated more than 300 billion won in sales, helped by favorable US pharmacy listings and European tenders.

Established biosimilars held their ground, with the anti-inflammatory Remsima commanding 59% of the European market and 30% in the US, while breast-cancer treatment Herzuma took 75% of the Japanese market. Newer autoimmune drug Yuflyma grew 44% in the US and cancer therapy Vegzelma expanded nearly 67% on broader distribution.

Profitability was also boosted as merger-related cost pressures eased. Celltrion's cost-of-sales ratio fell to 35.8% in the fourth quarter, down from about 63% immediately after the 2023 merger, reflecting cleared high-cost inventory, completed amortization and better production yields.

Looking ahead, Celltrion set a 2026 revenue target of 5.3 trillion won and pledged a "selection and concentration" approach that prioritizes high-margin business while trimming lower-return products, with newer drugs expected to make up about 70% of sales. The firm is also scaling up its US footprint through the acquisition of an Eli Lilly plant in Branchburg, New Jersey, agreeing to supply roughly 678.7 billion won of products to Lilly through 2029 and laying the groundwork for a contract manufacturing business.

Over the longer term, the company plans to grow its biosimilar lineup from 11 to 41 products by 2038 while advancing novel pipelines in antibody-drug conjugates, multispecific antibodies and obesity treatments. Celltrion shares edged up 0.7% to 216,000 won on the day of the announcement.