Two thirds of South Korean drug makers selling more than 100 billion won ($87.6 million) in the six-month period have increased spending in research and development this year, data showed Wednesday.

Regulatory filings of 15 listed pharmaceutical firms with over 100 billion won in first-half sales showed 10 having upped their R&D expenditures in the January-June period from a year ago.

Total R&D spending of the 15 firms in the cited period stood at 401.1 billion won, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.

Handok Inc. reported the biggest growth of 20 percent to 10.2 billion won. Dong-A ST Co. and Kwangdong Pharmaceutical Co. raised their R&D budget respectively by 18.6 percent and 17.4 percent.

Hanmi Pharm Co. remained the top R&D spender, allocating 67.4 billion won or 19.3 percent of its sales in the first half. The value decreased 3.7 percent from a year ago but the R&D ratio against sales increased from 18.1 percent in the first half last year.

Daewoong Pharma and Green Cross Corp. came next, spending 59.6 billion won and 55.9 billion won, respectively. Their spending was 11 percent proportional to sales.

The industry leader Yuhan Corp. doled out 47.8 billion won, proving to be stingy in R&D investment with the ratio just 6.8 percent against its sales.

Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. invested 46.3 billion won (11.1 percent of sales) in R&D, down 13 percent from a year earlier. Ildong Pharmaceutical Co. spent 22.4 billion (10.2 percent), Boryung Pharm Co. 14.3 billion won (6.9 percent) and Handok 10.2 billion won (4.9 percent).

Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, the No. 3 player in terms of consolidated sales, showed a 17.4 percent jump in R&D spending from a year earlier. But its R&D budget of 2.7 billion won still accounted for only 0.8 percent of sales.

Among the minor companies, Bukwang Pharmaceutical Co. showed the highest R&D investment at 16.1 billion won or 22.05 percent of sales.

By Kim Hye-soon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]