Chugai Pharmaceutical Nine-Month Core Profit Rises 19% to ¥536 Billion, CEO Expects to Beat Full-Year Forecast

Chugai Pharmaceutical’s revenue for the nine months to September rose 17.2% from a year earlier to ¥1,068.1 billion, while core operating profit climbed 19% to ¥536.1 billion, the Roche-controlled Japanese drugmaker reported on Tuesday. The company kept its full-year outlook unchanged, and its shares fell 3.03% to ¥6,688 in Tokyo.

Third-quarter core operating profit alone came in at ¥206.9 billion, ahead of the ¥176.0 billion consensus estimate, according to Investing.com. Quarterly revenue grew 21.5% and core operating profit rose 15.9% year on year, the outlet said.

On an IFRS basis, net income for the nine months increased 22.8% to ¥375.3 billion, while core net income rose 20.2% to ¥384.7 billion, RTTNews reported. Roche holds about 59.89% of Chugai.

Royalties and exports lift revenue

Product sales grew 14.1% to ¥906.8 billion. Other revenue, made up of royalties and milestone income, jumped about 37% to roughly ¥161 billion, helped by higher royalty income from Hemlibra and Nemluvio as well as one-time revenue, according to RTTNews.

Domestic sales rose 18.2%, driven by drugs including Polivy, Hemlibra, Vabysmo, Lunsumio and Elevidys. Overseas sales increased 11% to ¥500.5 billion on higher exports of Alecensa to Roche and Nemluvio to Galderma.

According to an earnings call transcript published by Investing.com, Chugai’s domestic results included a one-time boost of about ¥30 billion from shipments brought forward ahead of an ERP system change that went live on October 13, an effect expected to reverse in the fourth quarter. A weaker yen added about ¥40.6 billion to revenue and ¥26.6 billion to operating profit, the call summary showed.

CEO expects to beat forecast

Chugai maintained its 2026 guidance of ¥1,345 billion in revenue, ¥670 billion in core operating profit, ¥485 billion in core net income and core earnings per share of ¥295. On the call, President and CEO Osamu Okuda said: “We are tracking well against our full-year forecast and I expect to exceed it.”

Management said Actemra sales were running ahead of plan and could top their full-year target by about ¥10 billion or more, according to the transcript. Investing.com also noted that Roche has raised its Hemlibra guidance.

What’s next

Chugai has started Phase 3 trials for several candidates, including a KRAS G12C inhibitor for lung cancer, a PI3Kα inhibitor for breast cancer, the hemophilia A drug NXT007 and a long-acting GLP-1/GIP agonist for obesity, RTTNews reported. Management did not give detailed guidance for 2027, saying it would do so at a strategy conference in early 2027, according to the call transcript.

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