PRESS RELEASE
Ho Chi Minh city, Feb 23rd, 2024.
IMEXPHARM FORGES A POWERFUL PARTNERSHIP WITH GENUONE SCIENCES, PAVING THE WAY FOR CUTTING-EDGE MEDICATION PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, ENRICHING HEALTHCARE OPTIONS FOR THE WIDER COMMUNITY
Today, Imexpharm Joint Stock Company (IMP) officially announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Genuone Sciences Inc., one of the leading pharmaceutical companies from South Korea. This groundbreaking collaboration marks a significant stride for Imexpharm, empowering them to delve deep into the production of top-notch specialized medications at affordable prices. Moreover, it will alleviate the financial strain on patients, ensuring accessible healthcare for all.
The cooperation agreement entails close collaboration between Genuone and Imexpharm in the initial phase to identify suitable product/SKU portfolios for the Vietnamese market. Imexpharm and Genuone are expected to provide over ten types of medications for the treatment of cardiovascular and diabetes-related diseases. As part of the collaboration plan, Genuone will manage the registration of drug circulation (Marketing Authorization-MA) and transfer manufacturing technology to Imexpharm, including formulation, production processes, quality standards for finished products, and related quality documentation. Additionally, Genuone will send technical experts to support the transfer and training of technology to Imexpharm.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Ms. Tran Thi Dao, the General Director of Imexpharm, a People’s Doctor and pharmacist, shared that the strategic partnership with Genuone is a significant step for Imexpharm in producing high-quality specialized medications at reasonable costs, aiming to replace imported drugs. This has practical significance in helping patients alleviate the financial burden of treatment and contributes to the implementation of Vietnam's National Strategy for Pharmaceutical Development until 2030, with the specific goal of domestically producing around 80% of the demand and capturing 70% of the market value.
“As a pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprise with a development history of over 45 years, Imexpharm has always been committed to investing in product quality while ensuring reasonable prices to patients. To do this, we always maintain a production system that meets EU-GMP standards, invest in research and development, and cooperate with international partners to transfer core technology, moving towards the production of generic and innovative drugs of high value," shared the People’s Doctor and Pharmacist Dr. Tran Thi Dao.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr, Samsoo Lee, CEO of Genuone Sciences Inc., said: “Genuone highly appreciates the strategic cooperation with Imexpharm, and this is an important cooperation that helps Genuone gradually access the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market, a potential and dynamic market in the Southeast Asia region. Through this cooperation, Genuone will accelerate its technology transfer activities to partners, and expand the Genuone portfolio of fast moving and 1st generic drugs drugs, which is widely registered in many countries around the world including Vietnam.”
2023 was a year of many challenges and difficulties after two years of the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, which had a negative impact on many industries, but the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry still maintained its growth rate. Mirae Asset Securities Company projected that the pharmaceutical industry would continue to maintain a CAGR of 6% in the 2023-2028 period. The projected value of the pharmaceutical industry in 2023 and 2024 is expected to reach US$7.24 billion (+3.4% YoY) and US$7.89 billion (+9.1% YoY), respectively.
In line with the overall growth trend of the entire industry, Imexpharm continued to maintain double-digit growth in 2023. Specifically, as of the end of 2023, the total gross revenue reached VND2,113 billion, up 26% from the overall market growth rate of 8%. Net revenue reached VND1,994 billion, up 21% from the same period. Currently, Imexpharm is the number one antibiotic company in the Vietnamese market as of now (including both foreign and domestic companies). In 2023, Imexpharm registered an additional 11 MA EU (European product registration numbers) for six products, including difficult products such as Ampicillin/Sulbactam, bringing the total number of MA EU to twenty-seven for eleven products. Currently, Imexpharm is a company that owns three clusters of factories that meet EU-GMP standards with 11 EU-GMP standard lines. This has made Imexpharm the pharmaceutical company with the largest EU-GMP cluster and the most EU-GMP lines in Vietnam.
2023 was a record-breaking year for Imexpharm. The company's total revenue increased by 26% compared to the previous year, reaching VND 2,113 billion. This result reflects a year of record growth for the company and is also higher than the overall market growth rate of 8%. EBITDA increased by 31% and ended the year at VND 466 billion, significantly exceeding the company's plan. Over the past 5 years, Imexpharm's EBITDA compound annual growth rate (CAGR) has been an impressive 17.2%.
With the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry forecast to continue growing at a CAGR of 6%-8% in the 2023-2028 period (according to IQVIA), Imexpharm is committed to achieving double-digit growth. Following a record year, Imexpharm has set a revenue growth target of 24% for 2024. In this regard, the company expects to achieve strong revenue growth of up to 49% in the ETC sales channel and an 18% increase in EBITDA.
As a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer with European-approved drugs, Imexpharm is exploring the possibility of distributing its products to other markets across Southeast Asia. At the same time, diversify the product portfolio, especially the production of generic drugs for the treatment of non-communicable and chronic diseases. To realize these goals, Imexpharm has been investing heavily in technology infrastructure and digital transformation with projects that will soon be rolled out, such as the Electronic Quality Management System (eQMS) and Electronic Batch Record (EBR). Digitization in quality management will help improve efficiency by automating manual tasks and minimizing human error. At the same time, help improve quality management efficiency by providing organizations with a more comprehensive view of Imexpharm's quality processes.