Newly appointed ScinoPharm Taiwan Ltd (台灣神隆) president Tony Su (蘇崇銘) yesterday said that he would oversee the company’s transition amid immense changes in global markets and supply chains.
“My first responsibility at the company would be to oversee continuation of organizational restructuring and cost management,” Su told an earnings conference.
He said that the global market for generic drugs has been reshuffled by rapid consolidation and the company faces increasing challenges as prices trend lower.
Apart from changing its chief financial and research and development officers, there has not been a major shift in the management team, although key executives would take on additional roles to better align them with the company’s objectives, Su said.
Su was previously with Uni-President Enterprises Corp (UPE, 統一企業), a major investor in ScinoPharm.
ScinoPharm, which makes active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), as well as providing contract manufacturing and research services, said that it would begin to see profit contribution from a newly approved generic oncology injection that was developed with US-based Sagent Pharmaceutical Inc.
ScinoPharm said that its generic version of anti-thrombotic drug Fondaparinux in March gained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and is to begin sales in the US in two to three months time.
The anti-thrombotic drug is also expected to gain market approval from Indian authorities and commence sales there this year, the company said.
This year, ScinoPharm has gained regulatory approval in China to supply generic APIs for a treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia and a generic oncology injectible for myeloid leukemia in the US.
The company has observed a significant shift in China’s API supply chain as Beijing tightens environmental requirements, ScinoPharm marketing and sales vice president Portia Lin (林靜雯) said.
China has been ordering noncompliant manufacturers to shut down, leading to disruptions in the supply and pricing of chemicals, Lin said.
The company has minimized the disruption by importing from other markets, Lin said, adding that China’s new plant inspection regimen and stricter drug license approvals should help push out low-quality API suppliers.
The company reported that net income in the second quarter dipped 3 percent quarterly to NT$131 million (US$4.27 million), although revenue rose 14 percent to NT$986 million on the back of strong sales of colorectal cancer products. Earnings per share (EPS) were NT$0.17.
In the April-to-June period, gross margin and operating margin were 43 percent and 16 percent respectively, up from 39 percent and 14 percent in the previous period.
Overall, net income in the first half rose 5 percent annually to NT$267 million, or EPS of NT$0.34, while sales gained 4 percent to reach NT$1.85 billion.
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