JW Pharmaceutical said it achieved the highest operating profit margin in the industry in the third quarter of this year, driven by steady sales growth of its major original specialty drugs.

In a public disclosure on Wednesday, JW Pharmaceutical said its sales in the third quarter of this year totaled 176.6 billion won ($126.2 million), down 3.5 percent from the third quarter of last year.

The company’s operating profit in the July-September quarter was 26.3 billion won, down 1.6 percent year-on-year. Net profit turned around to a surplus of 19.7 billion won, and the operating profit rate reached an industry-leading 14.9 percent without the one-time technology fee revenue.

By business division, the specialty pharmaceuticals segment grew 2.4 percent year-on-year to 149.4 billion won in the third quarter.

Specifically, sales of Livalozet, a pitavastatin-based dyslipidemia combination drug, recorded 19.1 billion won, an increase of 12.3 percent year over year. The Livalo product groups—Livalo Tab, Livalozet, and Livalo V Tab—which includes the single statin Livalo—generated sales of 39.6 billion won, up 5.9 percent. Hemlibra, a hemophilia treatment, also marked sales of 12.4 billion won, up 45.5 percent.

JW Pharmaceutical’s sales in the infusion products segment reached 63 billion won. In particular, the high-value-added multivitamin and nutritional fluid product line Winuf generated sales of 21.5 billion won, up 3.8 percent.

The OTC segment's sales were 10.5 billion won in the third quarter, down 24.1 percent from the previous year.

“Along with the steady increase in sales of major original specialty drugs, the performance of the fluid medicine segment is showing signs of recovery,” a JW Pharmaceutical official said. “Based on stable profit realization, we plan to strengthen R&D investment to solidify a virtuous cycle further and speed up the development of various innovative new drug pipelines.”