Dong-A ST said Wednesday that its sales slightly fell to 555.1 billion won ($511.1 million) last year, down 0.9 percent from 2016.

“Sales declined due to the contract termination of GlaxoSmithKline’s ethical drugs (ETC), also known as the prescription drug, the price cut on Stillen, a treatment for treat gastritis and peptic ulcers, and lack of business days,” a company official said. “The delay in bidding for Growtropin-II for an export deal to Brazil also adversely affected sales.”

However, the company was able to minimize the decline in sales due to new deals on ETC products such as Jublia Topical Solution and Virreal, he added.

Other factors that helped slow down the sales drop included an increase in overseas shipments of Bacchus and anti-tuberculosis drug, the signing of the export deal for Growtropin-II in Brazil during the second half of 2017, and an increase in the sales of new medical and diagnostics products.

Dong-A ST registered 25.7 billion won in operating profit last year, a 69.1 percent increase from 2016. However, the company’s net income turned around to a deficit of 5.9 billion, down 45 percent from the previous year.

The company explained that its net income decreased because of foreign currency translation loss resulting from exchange rate fluctuation.

Despite the sales loss, the company increased its spending on research and development (R&D) to 41.4 billion won, a 38.2 percent increase from 2016, it said.