BEIJING, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, China’s biggest drugmaker by market value, reported a 0.34% rise in first-half net profit on Wednesday, as its generics business remained under pressure from bulk-procurement programs designed to lower healthcare costs.
Hengrui said revenue in its generics drug business was down 16.07% year on year to 5.1 billion yuan in the six months through June due to bulk-buying programs, which will result in lower drug prices. It said it had proactively scaled back investment in the segment.
By contrast the oncology and metabolic disease specialist said its revenue in innovative drugs – particularly in the oncology field — saw a 16.38% jump to 8.8 billion yuan, accounting for 63.16% of total pharmaceutical revenue.
Total revenue was down 1.94% year-on-year to 15.5 billion yuan in the half, a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange showed.
For the most recent quarter through June, Hengrui achieved a net profit of 2.2 billion yuan ($326.5 million), a Reuters calculation showed, compared with an average analyst forecast of 2.9 billion yuan, according to LSEG data.
Quarterly revenue stood at 7.3 billion yuan, missing a mean forecast of 8.9 billion from two brokerages.
($1 = 6.7377 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai, with Shi Bu and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Joe Bavier and David Holmes)
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