South Korea’s Dongkoo Bio&Pharma Co. will go all out to increase its overseas sales this year by securing a production base in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) regions this year, the company’s Chief Executive Officer Cho Yong-joon told Maeil Business Newspaper in a recent interview.

To this end, the company plans to expand its presence in the overseas market through cooperation with local partners and potentially through M&A deals.

“I see business opportunities in these regions where multinational companies have shuttered their business” Cho said. “We are considering many regional targets for a production base and they include Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Russia.’’

Cho is also envisioning a K-medicine penetration model that combines telemedicine with its overseas business in the long term.

In the home market, the company expects a jump in sales especially in urology prescription drugs. Dongkoo Bio showed good performance over the past year with an even growth across all business divisions. The company posted cumulative sales of 146.9 billion won ($118.6 million) for the first three quarters of last year, up 27.8 percent from the same period a year ago. Operating profit soared by 157 percent to 14.6 billion won during the same period. For prescription medicines, the company maintained market leadership in dermatology, while further progressing in urology, otolaryngology, and internal medicine.

Dongkoo Bio aims to become a No. 1 brand in urology by launching a new drug that combines ingredients to treat erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation in the first half of this year.

Cho said his goal is to increase the company’s revenue to 300 billion won within 3 years and to over 1 trillion won within 5 years.

Cho’s another focus is the industry’s first joint logistics center project for small- and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies as the head of Korea Pharmaceutical Industry Cooperative. The cooperative established PICO Innovation Co., a joint pharmaceutical logistics company, in 2020 to tackle warehousing restraints and reduce distribution costs.

PICO Innovation’s smart logistics center located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province began full-scale operation this month. A total of 26 pharmaceutical companies are participating in the logistics center project.

By Yoo Joo-yeon and Minu Kim

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