HanAll Biopharma said that it has posted 22.1 billion won ($18.1 million) in sales in the first quarter of this year, down 9.8 percent from the same period in 2019. However, the company registered the operating and net profits of 3 billion won and 4 billion won, respectively, up 15.5 and 16.2 percent over the cited period.

“Sales decreased slightly due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the first quarter,” a company official said. “However, profitability improved as a result of the improved rate of cost to sales.”

As pharmaceutical sales are recovering from March and the company is to receive a milestone payment from Harbour BioMed of China related to the launch of the 1b/2a clinical trial of Batoclimab, an antibody targeting the neonatal Fc receptor, things will improve in the remaining quarters, it said.

The company licensed out batoclimab and tanfanercept, a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha receptor inhibitor, to Harbor BioMed in September 2017, and made technology export of batoclimab to Roivant, a Swiss company, in December 2017.