Lotus Pharmaceuticals Co (美時化學製藥) yesterday gave an upbeat outlook for global sales of its generic drugs this quarter, as its marketing network now covers more than 130 countries.
Third-quarter sales grew 24.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.96 billion (US$64.21 million), mainly boosted by robust US sales of its buprenorphine/naloxone tablets, which are sold under the name Desud Plus, for the treatment of narcotic addiction, the generic drugmaker said.
The company’s sales of lenalidomide for treatment of blood cancer also advanced in Europe, while sales of other drugs in other regions — including Southeast Asia and Africa — also reported rapid growth, Lotus acting spokeswoman Nadiya Chen (陳荻雅) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
International sales used to account for only a single-digit percent of its total sales, but they had risen to about 21 percent as of the end of September, Chen said.
The company expects its international sales to continue growing as it has a chance of having its Desud Plus included in US public health insurance plans after the US government last month said it would include more generic drugs.
Desud Plus is currently only covered by private health insurance plans in the US, as all narcotic addiction treatment drugs included in the public plans are branded medicines, it said.
The company said it hopes to see Desud Plus secure a higher market share in the US next year.
It is also working on gradually enhancing its marketing programs for lenalidomide in South Africa and east Europe, where it faces fewer competitors, as well as promoting gefitinib for lung cancer treatment and vinorelbine for breast cancer treatment in Europe.
Compared with the Europe and the US, the company’s overall sales of generic drugs in Asia have remained comparatively flat in the past few years due to intense competition, Chen said.
To spur new growth, the company next year plans to introduce two new drugs — the anti-obesity drug Qsymia in South Korea and a drug for osteoporosis treatment in Southeast Asia, Chen said.
For the first nine months of this year, the company’s cumulative revenue rose 28.4 percent annually to NT$6.04 billion, with gross margin improving mildly from 48 percent to 50 percent.
Cumulative net profit over the nine-month period totaled NT$523 million, increasing 18 times from a year earlier.
Earnings per share hit a new record of NT$2.17, compared with NT$0.11 a year earlier, company data showed.
The company, which at the end of last month received approval to move from the smaller Taipei Exchange to the main Taiwan Stock Exchange, has no plans to raise new capital for the time being, Chen said.
The share price was not ideal, she added.
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