As most Korean pharma firms slogged through another year of margin compression, Myung In Pharm posted 90.1 billion won ($61.2 million) in operating profit and kept its debt ratio under 10 percent last year. Just seven drugmakers in the country cleared that earnings bar in 2024. Only four grew. Myung In was one of them.
Myung In Pharm posted over 90 billion won in operating profit last year, outperforming most peers in profitability ahead of its planned Kospi listing. (Credit: Getty Images)
Myung In Pharm posted over 90 billion won in operating profit last year, outperforming most peers in profitability ahead of its planned Kospi listing. (Credit: Getty Images)
The company’s 33.4 percent operating margin is more than triple the Kosdaq average and nearly seven times that of its Kospi-listed peers. It’s held that line for five years—and now it’s going public.
Myung In is reportedly eyeing a Kospi debut this July, not as a speculative biotech play, but as a profitable outlier in a market drained by inflation, stagnant pipelines, and bloated operating costs.
It helps that over 90 percent of Myung In’s products are developed in-house using APIs synthesized internally, keeping its cost-of-sales ratio at 37.3 percent—roughly 14 points below the Kospi pharma average.
Revenue rose 11.2 percent to 269.5 billion won last year. Cash and equivalents jumped 40 percent to 254.2 billion. Retained earnings topped 524 billion. Even with a 9.4 percent dip in net income—tied to non-operating expenses—the balance sheet held firm.
Korea Biomedical Review’s analysis of seven years of audit filings shows an average annual earnings growth of 12.1 percent. At that pace, Myung In is on track to cross 100 billion won in operating profit by 2026.
Founded in 1985, the company built its name on OTC staples like Igatane capsules for gum disease and Mayqeen tablets for constipation. But its pipeline now leans heavily into central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular drugs.
In January, Myung In signed a licensing deal with Italy’s Newron Pharmaceuticals to commercialize evenamide, a schizophrenia therapy. The company will fund and enroll 10 percent of patients in the global phase 3 trial.
And in a move that bucks the austerity trend, Myung In is sending its entire workforce on a weeklong cruise through Japan and Taiwan to mark its 40th anniversary.
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Kim Ji-hye jkim404@docdocdoc.co.kr
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