GenScript Biotech Corp. (Stock Code: 1548.HK), a leading global biotechnology company, today reported interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and provided a corporate update. Revenue of the Group for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was approximately US$166.4 million, representing an increase of 36.5% from the same period in 2019. The external revenue for non-cell therapy business was approximately US$143.3 million, representing an increase of 41.6% from the same period of 2019. The adjusted profit of non-cell therapy business more than doubled. The revenue for cell therapy business was approximately US$23.1 million, representing an increase of 11.6% from the same period of 2019.
In the first half of 2020, the Group maintained strong momentum across all four business segments. Among others, life science CRO business delivered impressive results and saw fastest growth since IPO of the Company, with revenue increasing by 49.1%. Revenue from CDMO business (GenScript ProBio) increased by over 100% in the first half of 2020. Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, industrial synthetic biology business managed to grow faster than the industry average. In the cell therapy segment, the subsidiary Legend Biotech was listed on Nasdaq Global Market in June 2020 as China's first CAR-T stock, expecting to initiate a biologics license application (BLA) for its first CAR-T therapy ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of 2020.
In terms of results of the four business segments, revenue from life science services and products amounted to approximately US$115.0 million, representing an increase of 39.9% from the same period in 2019. The gross profit was approximately US$78.0 million, representing an increase of 49.1% from the same period in 2019. The gross profit margin increased from 63.6% for the same period last year to 67.8% this year. The adjusted operating profit of life science services and products (excluding share-based compensation expenses and central management expenses) was approximately US$41.6 million, representing an increase of 65.8%. Revenue growth was mainly attributable to the (i) successful commercial operation that focused on COVID-19 related products such as protein and antibody,
