Korea Lilly, the Korean unit of Eli Lilly and Company, posted record results in 2025. Analysts say the boom in obesity and diabetes drugs that are wildly popular worldwide lifted overall performance.
According to Korea Lilly's audit report on the 3rd, sales in the domestic market last year rose 193.6% from the previous year (164.2 billion won) to about 482.1 billion won. Operating profit was 37.1 billion won, up 259.2% from the previous year (about 10.3 billion won).
◇ Performance surges on Mounjaro… "short supply" in Korea too
Behind Korea Lilly's sharp performance jump is "Mounjaro," launched in the domestic market in August last year. In the United States, the diabetes drug was released first in 2022 and 2023 under the product name Mounjaro, and the obesity drug under the product name zepbound, before rising to the world's No. 1 pharmaceutical product by sales.
In Korea, the product names for diabetes and obesity medications were unified at launch. Prescriptions for Mounjaro began on Aug. 21 last year. Despite being a prescription-only medicine, demand surged so much from the outset that major dosages remained in short supply.
Korea Lilly's net profit last year was about 26.9 billion won. Profit before income tax expense was about 34.4 billion won. However, in non-operating gains and losses, exchange-rate fluctuations also stood out. While foreign exchange gains and translation gains came to about 5 billion won, foreign exchange losses and translation losses exceeded about 7 billion won.
The financial statements also hint at the company's domestic market strategy. Inventories (merchandise) last year were about 187.8 billion won, up 268% from the previous year. The company moved preemptively to secure supply to meet surging demand. Actual product purchases were 520.8 billion won, roughly four times the previous year.
Spending on academic research and ordinary test research totaled 8.1 billion won last year, up more than 70% from the previous year. Donations were minimal relative to sales. Korea Lilly's donations last year totaled 1,020,390,909 won.
Industry watchers say the domestic market for obesity and diabetes treatments is growing rapidly, and Korea Lilly's growth, led by Mounjaro, is likely to continue for the time being. However, if supply-demand imbalances persist due to expanding global demand, short supply could remain a variable in the domestic market.
◇ Will Lilly keep expanding investment in Korea?
Eli Lilly and Company has also recently signaled an intention to expand investment and collaboration in Korea. On the 3rd of last month, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Eli Lilly and Company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) "for the advancement of Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industry and the promotion of public health," and said it would invest a total of $500 million in Korea over five years starting this year.
As part of that effort, it signed an open-innovation partnership with Samsung Biologics and decided to establish a base for "Lilly Gateway Labs (LGL)" in Songdo, Incheon. LGL is a global open-innovation program Lilly launched to select and nurture promising biotechs.
The LGL base to be established in Korea is set to be located in "C-Lab Outside," a new open-innovation center within Samsung Biologics' Second Bio Campus in Songdo, Incheon, slated for completion in 2027. Outside the United States, it will be the second overseas LGL base after China. C-Lab Outside will have five above-ground floors and a total floor area of 12,000 square meters (about 3,500 pyeong).
In addition, it has continued collaboration with SK Group's contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) subsidiary SK pharmteco to produce obesity treatments. Recently, SK pharmteco began producing clinical active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for developing next-generation glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity therapies.
Eli Lilly and Company posted record global annual sales last year of about $65.179 billion (about 98 trillion won), up 45% from the previous year. Separately from the U.S. headquarters, Korea Lilly's cash and cash equivalents were tallied at 154.8 billion won.