KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. Pharmaceutical issuer PT Kalbe Farma Tbk (KLBF) is optimistic about achieving double-digit profit growth by 2024.

KLBF President Director Vidjongtius said that this year is a year of recovery for Kalbe Farma, after previously recording a decline in the third quarter.

KLBF's net profit reached IDR 2.06 trillion in the first nine months of 2023. Kalbe's net profit fell 16.9% compared to the same period last year due to challenging market conditions in the post-pandemic transition period. 

Kalbe's optimism aligns with the disruption of the supply chain caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to high prices for imported raw materials and logistics. 

“Because we also can't raise prices, that's what temporarily reduced our profit, but this year we are optimistic about recovery,” said Vidjongtius at a groundbreaking event, Wednesday (1/2).

Vidjongtius said, to achieve this target, he is preparing a strategy to strengthen sales by releasing innovations and new products. This year, KLBF will issue 15 to 20 new products, including 7 latest medical devices and several generic drugs that are the mainstay of the BPJS program. 

“These products will certainly support sales and profitability, because generic drugs will always be needed,” he said.

In addition, today, Thursday (1/2) through its subsidiary PT Global Onkolab Farma (GOF), it has broken ground on a radioisotope and radiopharmaceutical production facility that requires an investment of IDR 150 billion to IDR 200 billion for early detection of cancer. 

The construction of a domestic radiopharmaceutical production facility is Kalbe's commitment to continuously improve increasingly affordable health access, especially in cancer detection.

The radiopharmaceutical production facility that produces Fluorodeoxyglucose (FGD) is expected to support Positron Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography Scanning (PET/CT-Scan) services in hospitals.

After the groundbreaking of the radioisotope and radiopharmaceutical production facility in East Jakarta, KLBF will also build a similar facility in Surabaya with the same investment value. 

Editor: Syamsul Azhar