South Korean Pharmaceutical Company Yuhan Signs $8.09 Million HIV Drug Deal with Gilead

In a recent business development, Yuhan Corporation, a well-known pharmaceutical company in South Korea, announced that it has entered into an important cooperation agreement with Gilead Sciences, a world-renowned biopharmaceutical company. Under the terms of the agreement, Yuhan will be responsible for manufacturing pharmaceutical ingredients for the treatment of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) for Gilead Sciences. The transaction value of this cooperation is up to $80.9 million, demonstrating the depth of cooperation between the two parties in the field of medicine.

Under the terms of the agreement, Yuhan will supply Gilead Sciences with HIV drug ingredients through September 2025. The deal represents 5.8 percent of Yuhan's newly reported annual sales of 1.85 trillion won ($1.4 billion). This partnership not only brought significant economic benefits to Yuhan, but also further consolidated its position in the HIV treatment drug market.

Yuhan has a long history of working with Gilead Sciences in South Korea, where the two companies have jointly promoted several of Gilead's HIV treatments, including Biktarvy, the best-selling drug on the market. In fact, the two companies signed a similar agreement back in 2018, when Yuhan supplied HIV active pharmaceutical ingredients (apis) to Ireland for $45.3 million. Recently, Yuhan further expanded its Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) business in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) through its subsidiary Yuhan Chemical, which has the largest API production capacity in South Korea with a reactor capacity of approximately 500,000 liters. This further strengthens Yuhan's important role in the global pharmaceutical supply chain.

In addition to its collaboration on HIV drug ingredients, Gilead Sciences made an upfront payment of $15 million to Yuhan in 2019, which was for the purchase of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) drugs. However, in light of a recent reevaluation of clinical data, Gilead Sciences has decided to abandon the transaction with Yuhan in steatohepatitis associated with metabolic dysfunction. This decision reflects the industry's flexibility in the face of new data and research findings and its strong focus on patient safety.