TOKYO -- After a year of record profits, Japan's Chugai Pharmaceutical is riding high in the stock market on hopes for an obesity drug under development, but its prospects could be dimmed if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as U.S. health secretary.
Chugai reported a 19% jump in consolidated net profit to 387.3 billion yen ($2.51 billion) for the fiscal year ended December, with revenue up 5% to 1.17 trillion yen. Overseas sales rose for hemophilia drug Hemlibra through Swiss parent Roche. The drugmaker had forecast a drop in revenue from 2023, when it received a boost from supplying COVID-19 treatment Ronapreve to the Japanese government.
