PharmGen Science

PharmGen Science is a mid-sized pharmaceutical company headquartered and manufacturing in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, having renamed itself from Woori Pharm in 2021. The business is divided into pharmaceutical, healthcare, and other segments, and prescription drugs account for over 90% of total revenue.

Key products include Esomax, Arcidin-F, Bardipine, Rivatin, and Kvastin tablets, centered on cardiovascular and gastrointestinal treatments. The company established a biopharmaceutical division in 2021 and operates a global R&D center as it pursues a transition toward becoming a gastrointestinal new-drug developer.

It acquired control of in-vitro diagnostics firm AccessBio in 2019, and holds a 24.31% stake as the largest shareholder, classifying AccessBio as an equity-method affiliate rather than a consolidated subsidiary.

As a result, PharmGen Science's net income has historically been affected by swings in AccessBio's performance. AccessBio recently acquired an 80.2% stake in medical-aesthetics firm RF Bio for approximately KRW 57 billion, expanding beyond diagnostics into aesthetics and wellness.

PharmGen Science itself has also been widening its own pipeline beyond gastrointestinal drugs into obesity treatments, and recently signed an MOU with TS Bio covering regenerative medicine and biopharmaceuticals.

A high proportion of generic drugs in the revenue mix also means significant exposure to government drug-pricing policy changes.

Annual revenue rose gradually from KRW 150.9 billion in 2022 to KRW 166.8 billion in 2023, KRW 171.3 billion in 2024, and KRW 173.1 billion in 2025, though growth decelerated.

Operating profit climbed from KRW 7.47 billion in 2022 to KRW 9.13 billion in 2023 and KRW 10.64 billion in 2024, before falling to KRW 5.99 billion in 2025, with the operating margin narrowing from 6.2% to 3.5%.

Net income swung more sharply: a KRW 70.06 billion profit in 2022 shrank to KRW 5.73 billion in 2023 and KRW 2.79 billion in 2024, before flipping to a KRW 116.66 billion net loss in 2025.

The swing to a net loss stemmed from a slowdown at affiliate AccessBio, which led PharmGen Science to recognize an impairment of roughly KRW 133 billion after deducting a fair value of KRW 34.9 billion from a book value of KRW 167.9 billion.

By quarter, revenue was KRW 41.5 billion with operating profit of KRW 1.37 billion and a net loss of KRW 2.28 billion in Q3 2025, followed by Q4 2025 revenue of KRW 42.8 billion, an operating loss of KRW 0.75 billion, and a net loss widening to KRW 117.5 billion as most of the impairment landed in that quarter.

In Q1 2026, revenue was KRW 43.3 billion with operating profit of KRW 1.77 billion, keeping the core business profitable, but the company posted a net loss of KRW 0.99 billion; in Q2 2026, revenue of KRW 47.7 billion and operating profit of KRW 1.80 billion still came with a net loss widening to KRW 13.58 billion.

In the first half of 2026, an equity-method loss of KRW 12.2 billion from the affiliate was recognized, pushing cumulative first-half net results to a loss of KRW 14.6 billion.

On core profitability, the SG&A ratio has trended upward since 2022 even as the cost-of-goods ratio has declined over the same period, suggesting gains from cost improvement have been largely offset by rising R&D expenses and CSO commissions.

The domestic generics-focused pharmaceutical industry in which PharmGen Science operates is structured around numerous small and mid-sized firms competing across many product lines, and the industry estimates PharmGen Science's generic revenue share at roughly 70% to 80%, with disclosed first-quarter pharmaceutical segment weight reaching 87.3%.

The government's phased drug price reduction policy is viewed as a structural variable directly affecting the revenue and cash flow of companies with high generic exposure.

The company itself has stated that given its generic-centered business structure, some revenue decline from the government's drug pricing reform is unavoidable.

In response, PharmGen Science is targeting Innovative Pharmaceutical Company certification within the year, hoping certification could partly offset price cuts through favorable pricing treatment.

Across the industry, many small and mid-sized Korean drugmakers are expanding new-drug and improved-drug pipeline investment on top of generic revenue bases, so the R&D pivot is less a unique strategy than a common industry response.

PharmGen Science's pipeline remains weighted toward early-stage candidates, placing it relatively behind larger peers in clinical progress and funding scale.

Exposure to diagnostics and aesthetics through affiliate AccessBio differentiates it from other generics-focused peers, but also transmits that affiliate's cyclical sensitivity directly into PharmGen Science's own results.

The company's stated core pipeline timeline is an IND filing within the year for both liver-specific MRI contrast agent RD1303 and reflux esophagitis candidate RD1305.

RD1303 is tied to the National New Drug Development project and RD1305 to the Ministry of Trade's World Class Plus program, both of which carry government research funding.

Joint-injection candidate RD2201 is progressing smoothly through trials across nine general hospitals, and the company says it has added further early-stage candidates including obesity treatment RD5306 as well as autoimmune and liver-fibrosis targets.

Organizationally, the company established an R&BD Committee as its top decision-making body for R&D, consolidating previously scattered research units.

On financing, it amended its articles of incorporation to allow issuance of redeemable convertible preferred shares (RCPS) and redeemable preferred shares (CPS), which the market interprets as a mezzanine strategy to secure future R&D funding.

More recently, it signed an MOU with TS Bio to expand into regenerative medicine and biopharmaceuticals, aiming to combine drug development, regulatory approval, and commercialization capabilities.

However, even if RD1303 and RD1305 enter IND, clinical results or licensing outcomes will not follow immediately, leaving timing uncertainty for when any such progress could show up in results.