Seo Jin-seok, CEO of Celltrion, noted on the 25th that, "After achieving a record-high sales of 3.5 trillion won last year, I aim to reach a target sales of 700 billion won for Jimpenetra (the U.S. product name for Remsima SC) starting this year." Seo Jin-seok is the eldest son of Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion.
At the Celltrion regular shareholders' meeting held that day at Songdo Convensia in Incheon, shareholders expressed their dissatisfaction that the sales of the autoimmune disease treatment "Jimpenetra," which entered the U.S. market last year, only reached 36 billion won.
In response, CEO Seo Jin-seok said, "The process of preparing for entering the U.S. involved complex procedures such as registering with pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) and discussions with hospitals, which caused delays compared to the original plan," and added, "Since we have over 50% market share in Europe, we expect to see significant results in the U.S. starting this year."
Jimpenetra is a self-administrable subcutaneous injection (SC) formulation developed as a biosimilar (biopharmaceutical copy) of Remicade (ingredient name infliximab). Remicade is an autoimmune disease treatment developed by Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson in the U.S. Celltrion launched Jimpenetra in the U.S. in March of last year. At the time of its launch, Celltrion presented a sales target for Jimpenetra of between 500 billion and 600 billion won. However, sales only reached 36.6 billion won.
At the shareholders' meeting that day, attending shareholders protested, asking, "Please explain why the sales were only at 10% of the target amount." CEO Seo responded, "Jimpenetra's shipment volume has doubled this year, and the growth potential remains high," adding, "Despite uncertainties in domestic and international situations, we will achieve the promised sales based on cost competitiveness."
Chairman Seo Jung-jin had also previously presented a total sales target of 5 trillion won and a Jimpenetra sales target of 700 billion won at the U.S. JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in January. The company explained that it has signed contracts with all three major pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), which account for over 80% of the U.S. insurance market, and expects sales growth this year.
Chairman Seo was absent due to health reasons, and CEO Seo Jin-seok led the meeting as chair for the second consecutive year. CEO Seo has been leading new drug research and development since he was appointed head of Celltrion's management division in December 2023.
At the shareholders' meeting that day, the proposal to reappoint Chairman Seo Jung-jin as an internal director was passed. Chairman Seo, whose term as an internal director expired this month, has had his term extended by two years. CEO Seo stated that "Chairman Seo has made significant contributions to the development of Celltrion, including contract development and manufacturing (CDMO), the development of antibody biosimilars, and the establishment of an overseas direct sales system," and added, "Last year, we achieved growth despite unpredictable situations, and this year we will show our performance."
However, some shareholders proposed conditions for Chairman Seo's reappointment. Oh Yun-seok, representative of the Celltrion Shareholders' Alliance, stated, "Due to the continued decline in stock prices and unmet promises, distrust and resentment towards the management are growing," and added, "Chairman Seo should only mention figures that can be realistically achieved, and if we do not meet 90% of the target sales of 5 trillion won and 700 billion won for Jimpenetra this year, we request that decisive accountability be taken."