Leading pharmaceutical businesses South Korea 2023, by revenue

In 2023, Yuhan Corporation posted the largest revenue among pharmaceutical companies in South Korea, at around 1.86 trillion South Korean won. The company focuses on the production of ingredients for medications as well as finished medications across various medical fields. Other leading companies included Chong Kun Dang and GC Pharma.

COVID-19 and Korean pharmaceuticals

The global coronavirus pandemic affected Korean pharmaceutical companies badly. Most of them suffered from decreased revenues and losses because of poor overseas results from the pandemic, a drop in prescriptions as people avoided hospitals, ongoing legal challenges, and more. A few South Korean pharmaceutical companies enjoyed increased revenues in 2020 and 2021, including Yuhan Corporation. Chong Kun Dang has been developing its own coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment, which won domestic and overseas approval for drug trials in 2021. Meanwhile, GC Pharma is involved in the development of vaccines and treatments for cancer and infectious diseases. Pharmaceutical drugs related to cancer see high usage rates, and development in the field of infectious diseases has naturally surged during the pandemic, helping the company increase their revenue.

Pharmaceutical producers in Korea

Leading Korean pharmaceutical producers include Celltrion, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, and Chong Kun Dang. Moderna Korea was the leading company by production value in 2022. Many producers saw increases in sales during the pandemic due to being involved in the production of several medical products related to COVID-19, most notably testing kits, Celltrion's sales revenue increased substantially in 2020 and 2021.