Kyowa Kirin First-Half Core Operating Profit Surges 80% to ¥66.1 Billion on Crysvita Growth and Royalty Income

Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4151), the Tokyo-based specialty pharmaceutical company behind the rare-disease drug Crysvita, reported consolidated results for the first half of the fiscal year ending December 2026 under IFRS. Because Kyowa Kirin's fiscal year closes in December, the figures cover the six months ended June 30, 2026. Revenue rose 14.3% to ¥263,629 million, core operating profit jumped 79.6% to ¥66,149 million, profit before tax climbed 70.5% to ¥37,465 million, and interim profit attributable to owners of the parent rose 87.6% to ¥30,618 million. Basic earnings per share were ¥58.48, up from ¥31.18.

A restated definition of core earnings

From FY12/2026 Kyowa Kirin changed the definition of its core-basis performance indicators. Core operating profit is now calculated as gross profit less selling, general and administrative expenses — excluding amortisation of intangible assets — and research and development expenses, then further excluding items management judges to be non-recurring. Core interim profit is core operating profit less the related income tax expense. Prior-year figures have been restated on the new basis, so the year-on-year comparisons are like-for-like. On that measure core interim profit rose 97.7% to ¥54,060 million and basic core EPS reached ¥103.26, against ¥52.25 a year earlier.

What moved the numbers

Revenue growth came from global strategic products, chiefly in North America and EMEA, together with higher technology income. Currency was a meaningful tailwind: the foreign-exchange effect added ¥12.6 billion to revenue and ¥5.6 billion to core operating profit. Core operating profit also benefited from a richer gross profit on overseas revenue and technology income, and from lower R&D expenses. Below the core line, the increase in interim profit was partly offset by higher other expenses arising from contract losses and impairment losses. Total comprehensive income multiplied more than sixfold to ¥39,433 million from ¥6,233 million.

Crysvita keeps carrying the portfolio

Crysvita, for X-linked hypophosphataemia and other FGF23-related disease, generated ¥118.8 billion in revenue, up 19.1% and comfortably the group's largest product. Poteligeo, an anticancer agent, rose 19.9% to ¥25.9 billion; the renal-anaemia drug Darbrock gained 19.4% to ¥8.2 billion; the hyperphosphataemia treatment Fozevel added 22.2% to ¥4.5 billion; and the metachromatic leukodystrophy gene therapy sold as Libmeldy and Lenmeldy grew 10.2% to ¥4.9 billion. Older Japanese products moved the other way: G-Lasta, used to prevent febrile neutropenia, fell 21.9% to ¥7.1 billion and Romiplate declined 13.2% to ¥6.3 billion. In November 2025 the company launched a pre-filled syringe formulation of Crysvita in Japan to make at-home self-injection easier.

North America and EMEA lead; Japan slips

By regional headquarters, North America grew 16.8% to ¥103.3 billion, driven by global strategic products. Crysvita benefited from a temporary increase in shipments ahead of a July price revision on top of solid underlying demand, and Poteligeo continued to grow. KOMZIFTI (ziftomenib), approved by the U.S. FDA in November 2025 for relapsed or refractory NPM1-mutant acute myeloid leukaemia, is sold under a 50:50 profit share with Kura Oncology; because the net result was negative during the half, it was recorded within SG&A rather than as revenue. EMEA rose 17.0% to ¥43.3 billion as Crysvita added indications and launch countries and Poteligeo widened its footprint, although Kyowa Kirin International plc's transfer of the remaining assets of its established-medicines business to Grünenthal in February 2026 reduced sales-based royalties. Japan fell 5.9% to ¥54.9 billion: growth in Crysvita and Darbrock was outweighed by lower G-Lasta sales in the face of biosimilar competition and NHI price cuts, the ongoing transfer of marketing approvals for long-listed products such as Depakene, and the April 2025 and April 2026 NHI drug-price revisions.

Technology income becomes a swing factor

The "Other" bucket — technology income, the haematopoietic stem-cell gene therapy business from Orchard Therapeutics, and contract manufacturing — grew 32.5% to ¥62.1 billion, the fastest-expanding line in the group. Libmeldy and Lenmeldy gained ground after metachromatic leukodystrophy was added to the U.S. Recommended Uniform Screening Panel in December 2025, while technology income rose on higher benralizumab royalties from AstraZeneca and the full recognition of the remaining contract-liability balance following termination of the KHK4083/AMG 451 (rocatinlimab) partnership with Amgen. Orchard Therapeutics Limited was removed from the scope of consolidation during the interim period.

Balance sheet and dividend

Total assets stood at ¥1,130,944 million at June 30, 2026, up from ¥1,107,860 million at the end of December 2025, while total equity — all attributable to owners of the parent — rose to ¥916,165 million from ¥893,332 million. The ratio of equity attributable to owners edged up to 81.0% from 80.6%, an unusually strong capital position for the sector. Kyowa Kirin kept its FY12/2026 dividend forecast at ¥70.00 per share, split ¥35.00 interim and ¥35.00 year-end, up from ¥62.00 (¥30.00 plus ¥32.00) a year earlier. Interim dividend payments begin September 1, 2026.

Full-year guidance left unchanged

Despite the scale of the first-half advance, management left full-year FY12/2026 guidance untouched: revenue of ¥520,000 million (+4.7%), core operating profit of ¥130,000 million (+18.4%), profit before tax of ¥95,000 million (+8.9%) and profit for the year of ¥75,000 million (+11.9%), with basic EPS of ¥143.27. Core profit is guided at ¥103,000 million (+22.0%) and basic core EPS at ¥196.76. The first half alone already covers about 51% of the full-year core operating profit target.

JapanStockPulse provides informational content only and does not constitute investment advice. Figures are taken from the company's published earnings short report and may be subject to subsequent revision.