Yuhan Corporation said its 2024 annual revenue exceeded 2 trillion won ($1.3 billion), fueled by the success of its non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment, Leclaza (ingredient: lazertinib).

According to the company’s regulatory filing on Wednesday, Yuhan’s consolidated revenue for 2024 reached 2.068 trillion won, an 11.2 percent increase from the previous year.

The primary growth driver was the expanded global approval of Leclaza, leading to a substantial increase in licensing revenue.

In September 2024, Yuhan received a $60 million milestone payment from Johnson & Johnson after the U.S. FDA approved the combination therapy of Leclaza with Johnson & Johnson’s Rybrevant (ingredient: amivantamab) for NSCLC treatment.

Despite achieving record-breaking revenue, Yuhan’s operating profit for 2024 declined by 16.4 percent to 47.7 billion won, falling short of the market consensus of 92.3 billion won, while net profit reached 47.96 billion won, marking a 64.3 percent decline from 134.24 billion won a year earlier.

Yuhan Corp. explained that revenue increased due to higher sales from both the parent company and its subsidiaries, as well as a rise in licensing revenue.

However, operating profit declined due to increased R&D expenses and a decrease in operating profit from its subsidiaries.

For the fourth quarter of 2024, Yuhan reported a 13.5 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to 496.1 billion won. The company posted an operating loss of 19 billion won, transitioning into the red due to a surge in R&D investments. Yuhan’s fourth quarter R&D spending jumped 71 percent compared to the same quarter in 2023 to 73.9 billion won.

“We achieved over 2 trillion won in revenue, driven by milestone payments from Leclaza’s U.S. market entry and increased pharmaceutical sales,” a Yuhan official said. Although higher R&D investments impacted our short-term profitability, we expect revenue growth from Leclaza’s accelerating global expansion and additional pipeline licensing deals to improve our profitability starting this year.”