Dongwha Pharm said it acquired four over-the-counter (OTC) products from Celltrion, which the latter purchased from Takeda Pharmaceuticals in 2020, for about 37.2 billion won ($27.8 million).

The transaction includes medications such as the comprehensive cold medicine Whituben and Whituben Nasal Spray, the mouth ulcer treatment Albothyl, and a vitamin D and calcium supplement Calcichew, sold only in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Dongwha expects that the acquisition will allow the company to potentially increase its revenue in the tablet cold medicine and mouth ulcer treatment markets.

The company further expects to cement its place as a leading company in the cold medicine market, complementing its existing liquid cold medicine Pan Cold.

According to IQVIA's third-quarter data for 2023, Dongwha's OTC sales grew by 6.6 percent compared to 2022.

Dongwha's Pan Cold S ranked first in cold medicine sales in the third quarter of 2023, for the first time in the company's history.

"As a leading company in the Korean OTC market, we expect this acquisition to diversify our product portfolio and significantly boost domestic and international sales," a Dongwha official said. "We plan to continue diversifying our business and securing growth drivers in our existing OTC business."

Simultaneously, with the deal with Dongwha, Celltrion Group has successfully concluded the sale of its primary care business rights, which it acquired from Takeda.

This marks the completion of Celltrion Group's business restructuring, which began with the sale of the previously acquired Takeda's prescription drugs, also known as ethical drugs (ETC), to CBC Group, a global healthcare-focused private equity firm based in Singapore, at the end of last year for 209.9 billion won.

The total divestiture of both ETC and OTC divisions amounted to 247.1 billion won, and an additional 141. 2 billion won in cumulative sales profit over past three years.

This outcome reflects the group's successful efforts in enhancing sales and business efficiency.

Celltrion also maintains the domestic business rights for the ETC products that it sold to the CBC group and has secured exclusive rights to supply Nesina (diabetes treatment) and Edarbi (hypertension treatment) in the Asia-Pacific region, promising continued additional revenue generation.

"The decision to sell Takeda's primary care business rights, including the ETC business rights, was a strategic move to recoup investment profits early, focus on our core business, and seek new growth engines," a Celltrion official said.