I am Okuda, President and CEO. I will provide a summary of our 2025 performance and the outlook for 2026. Please refer to slide five. Regarding our full-year results for 2025, revenues, operating profit, and net income all reached record highs on a core basis. Revenue reached JPY 1,257.9 billion, exceeding our initial forecast by 5.7%. This was primarily driven by higher than expected exports of Actemra and Hemlibra to Roche. Operating profit surpassed the JPY 600 billion mark for the first time, representing our ninth consecutive year of profit growth. Operating profit margin also hit a record high of 49.5%. Moving to our 2026 earnings forecast, we anticipate another year of record-breaking results.
We are projecting a revenue of JPY 1,345 billion, up 6.9% year-on-year, and core operating profit of JPY 670 billion, up 7.5% year-on-year, fueled by growth in domestic product sales, royalty income, and other revenue streams. At the same time, we expect to maintain a high operating profit margin. The next slide illustrates our revenue trends. We expect revenue to increase by JPY 87.1 billion or 6.9% compared to 2025. Domestic product sales are projected to rise by JPY 25.6 billion as steady growth of new and mainstay products outweighs the negative impacts of NHI price revision and generic competition. Overseas product sales are expected to remain flat year-on-year, while Lunsumio and Hemlibra will continue to grow.
These gains will be offset by lower export unit prices and a decline in Actemra sales due to biosimilar entry. In contrast, other revenues is set to increase significantly, driven by higher royalty and profit share income from Lunsumio and orforglipron and Hemlibra, alongside an increase in milestone payment. Next is page eight. I will discuss our dividend policy. Reflecting our strong 2025 performance, we plan a year-end dividend of JPY 147 per share. This includes an ordinary dividend of JPY 72, up JPY 22 from our initial forecast, and a hundredth anniversary commemorative dividend of JPY 75. Combined with the interim dividend of JPY 125, the total annual dividend will be JPY 272 per share.
For 2026, consistent with our policy of targeting an average dividend payout ratio of 45% based on core EPS, we plan to increase the ordinary dividend by JPY 10 from 2025, bringing the forecast annual dividend to JPY 132 per share. Page nine. Moving on, I would like to review our 2025 management policies and priority items. Under strengthening R&D functions and value creation, we successfully confirmed proof of concept for NXT007. Furthermore, we accelerated our focus strategy by deciding to collectively discontinue five in-house development projects and making go, no-go decisions on six others. Open innovation also progressed steadily, as evidenced by the conclusion of 12 new research and technical collaborations. Within the maximizing value of life cycle management projects, despite the delay in Elevidys launch, we achieved several key milestones.
This includes the successful phase III result and subsequent filings for both Orforglipron and continued growth of domestic mainstay and new products, and the strategic in-licensing of sparsentan from a third party. Regarding strengthening the foundation, while we face some challenges in meeting our 2030 midterm environmental goals, overall progress was smooth. Key highlights include the rollout of our new HR system and the launch of a company-wide initiative to accelerate business transformation using AI. This slide details the progress of our R&D projects. In early in-house development, MINT91 and the mid-size molecule OWL01 transitioned to phase I, while GYM329 for obesity moved into phase II. Late stage development also saw significant progress for products expected to drive future domestic growth, including the addition of sparsentan, the transition of trontinemab to phase III, and positive trial data for giredestrant.
Additionally, we have successfully obtained regulatory approval for Elevidys. As our project portfolio expanded through the RED Shift, we prioritized the selection and concentration of early stage projects through collective discontinuations and rigorous go, no-go assessment. Consequently, the number of phase I project was reduced from 21 at the end of 2024 to 15, allowing us to focus our resources on high priority candidates. With the nine projects in phase II and 28 in phase III, we continue to maintain a robust and healthy pipeline. Three projects are currently under regulatory review, with approvals expected within this year.
Next, page 11. We're going to review priority items for strengthening the hemophilia franchise, development of Hemlibra auto-injector progress, and we confirmed proof of concept for NXT007. For DONQ52, we confirmed biological proof of concept and are steadily progressing toward initiating phase II studies. Regarding Elevidys, Chugai's first gene therapy product, following a fatal case of acute liver failure in an overseas non-ambulatory patient, we strengthened safety measures while maintaining close coordination with relevant authorities. We aim for a prompt launch following reimbursement approval for ambulatory patients aged three to seven years.
Regarding the new HR system launched last January, over 20% of all employees volunteered, and proportion of job postings in annual personnel transfers exceeded initial target, reaching over 60%. We'll continue to promote employee autonomy and career development. Page 12. We will explain progress in the first five years of our 10-year TOP I 2030 plan. Regarding the first pillar, realizing global first-class drug discovery, drug discovery projects and mid-size molecule pharmaceuticals made steady progress. We also accelerated external partnerships and investments to drive further innovation, including CVC investments and introduction of Palantir Technologies. For the second pillar, building futuristic business model, we reorganized the value delivery functions of sales, medical, and safety. On the production front, we successfully supplied products to meet rapid demand fluctuations and established our own production infrastructure for the future.
Simultaneously, we advanced company-wide DX, including projects for the launch of ASPIRE. Page 13. Based on the progress over the past five years, we defined five targets for the latter half of TOP I 2030. To achieve annual launches of Chugai-originated global products, we will enhance early-stage development capabilities, including pharmaceuticals, while collaborating with partnering functions in Japan, U.S., Europe, and Singapore to pursue further drug discovery innovation. In production, we'll establish a stable supply system considering geopolitical risks to prepare for increased supply responsibilities accompanying the growth of in-house global products. Furthermore, in the newly entered CVM field and metabolism field, we will build systems and capabilities to enable advanced development, project management, safety, medical affairs, and sales activities that respond to the distinct characteristics of this field and changes in the external environment, thereby maximizing the value delivered to patients.
To achieve these goals, we will advance the utilization of AI across the entire value chain and derive business transformation. We present the management policies and priority items for 2026, the first year of the latter five-year period. The management policies are enhancing R&D functions and creative value, maximizing value of LCM projects, and strengthening business foundations. The priority items are shown on the right. There are four of them. We'll continue to strengthen our hemophilia franchise by advancing development toward application for the Hemlibra auto-injector and initiating phase II studies for NXT007. We also anticipate the highest number of domestic applications to date. These initiatives are expected to drive short to medium-term growth in domestic sales. In particular, for Lunsumio, one of the products expected to achieve large-scale growth, we aim for early market penetration and combination therapy with Polivy.
We'll also ensure the successful launch of our new ERP system, ASPIRE, and promote the company-wide utilization of AI. Now, looking at the average annual trend in the number of Chugai-originated global products launched since 2001, the number has steadily increased in the past. Particularly over the last five years, the number of launches of in-house global products has increased, and these products will drive profit growth in the short to medium term. Furthermore, we anticipate that achieving the annual launch of in-house global products target set in TOP I 2030 will lead to further profit growth thereafter. Moving forward, we'll continue to leverage Chugai's unique drug discovery approach to advance drug discovery, including mid-size molecules, and develop new modalities, thereby expanding the creation of innovative new drugs that only Chugai can deliver.
Through these efforts, we'll achieve the TOP I 2030 goals and realize sustainable growth beyond them. The next slide, page 16. Last but not least, regarding the opening of our U.S. partnering office. We opened the Chugai U.S. Partnering office in South San Francisco, commencing operations this month. It will explore, identify, evaluate, and promote collaborations with U.S. academia and venture companies. In addition to the U.S., we will strengthen our partnership network connecting Tokyo, London, and Singapore to advance global open innovation. Page 17, the last page. This shows the summary of what I said, and that concludes my presentation.
We have the overview of development pipeline from Kusano. We apologize for the disturbance we had, and we will pause for a few moments at the very beginning of the session. I hope you will make use of that opportunity for a screen capture.
Thank you. I am Kusano. I am with Project and Lifecycle Management Unit. Please refer to page 20 of the slides. This looks at our fourth quarter topics. I will go through these starting from the top. We secured two approvals. Tecentriq obtained an indication expansion for unresectable thymic cancer. Lunsumio was approved for a new subcutaneous injection formulation. On the filing side, there were also two key developments for our in-house product, o rforglipron. Eli Lilly has filed an application in the United States for its use as an obesity treatment.
Regarding Tecentriq, we filed an application yesterday for its use as adjuvant therapy in MRD-positive bladder cancer. We also initiated the three phase III trials for Roche products: Trontinemab for Alzheimer's disease, zilebesiran for hypertension, and divarasib for first-line non-small cell lung cancer. Additionally, divarasib received orphan drug designation last December for KRAS G12C mutation-positive, unresectable, advanced or recurrent NSCLC. There were two pipeline deletions. Based on the data accumulated to date, we have decided to discontinue the development of brigimadlin for chronic diseases. Furthermore, the development of Tecentriq for perioperative NSCLC was discontinued following the results of the IMpower030 trial. Details regarding recent publications, new contracts, and investment by Chugai Venture Fund are summarized on this slide. Moving on to the second page of topics.
For our in-house product, PiaSky, we achieved positive results for phase III trial for atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. Orforglipron also met its primary endpoint in a switching trial following the administration of injectable incretins. Furthermore, I am pleased to announce that Enspryng met its primary endpoint in the phase III trial for myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease. Based on recent trial data, we plan to file for Gazyva, giredestrant, ranibizumab, and s parsentan within 2026. Regarding academic conferences, there were three presentations. I will provide a more detailed update on giredestrant later in this session. This is a summary of our major R&D events in 2025, where changes from the previous updates are underlined and are shown in bold font.
While a few items have been carried over to the next fiscal period, we consider these results to be generally highly satisfactory. In particular, looking back, the confirmation of POC for our in-house product, NXT007, a major milestone, and the decision to advance it to phase III represents a significant progress. Next, I will discuss the major milestones for 2026. A key readout for our in-house portfolio is the phase III trial of Enspryng for MOGAD, which, as recently announced, successfully met its primary endpoint. Regarding GYM329, we will now refer to it by its international nonproprietary name, INN, emugrobart. We plan to announce results for three phase II trials for emugrobart this year.
For SMA and FSHD trials, the data have already been collected, and we look forward to sharing the results with you soon. For Roche products, pivotal trial readouts are scheduled for Divarasib, Giredestrant, Lunsumio, and Susvimo. Regarding trial starts, we have listed those that have already been publicly disclosed. For NXT007, we have scheduled three phase III trials, including head-to-head comparison with Hemlibra. We also plan to initiate a phase II trial for DONQ52 in celiac disease. Now, I will present the results from two trials for Giredestrant. First is the evERA trial for hormone receptor-positive HER2-negative breast cancer in patients previously treated with a CDK4/6 inhibitor. Although these results were presented at last year's ESMO Congress, I would like to review them with you today.
Giredestrant is an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader, or SERD, designed to inhibit the estrogen receptor signaling, regardless of ESR1 mutation status. It is expected to show efficacy even in tumors that have developed resistance to conventional endocrine therapies, including previous generation SERDs. In vitro studies, it demonstrated higher cell proliferation inhibitory activity compared to other oral SERDs. Furthermore, the combination of giredestrant and mTOR inhibitor everolimus is expected to provide superior anti-tumor activity compared to monotherapy by simultaneously inhibiting two key signaling pathways involved in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer proliferation and endocrine resistance. In the evERA trial, this combination significantly improved the investigator-assessed PFS, a primary endpoint, in both the ESR1 mutation-positive and ITT populations. The therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 62% in ESR1 mutation-positive group, and 44% in the ITT population.
These results suggest that the Giredestrant plus Everolimus could become a valuable new oral treatment option for patients previously treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors, a segment with limited effective alternatives, regardless of their ESR1 mutation status.
Regarding the Giredestrant, I would like to introduce the lidERA study, which targeted adjuvant therapy for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer. This data was also presented at last year's San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Giredestrant demonstrates stronger growth inhibitory effects than estradiol E2 depletion or tamoxifen in ESR1 wild-type cell models with high estrogen receptor signaling activity and endocrine therapy sensitivity, as shown by non-clinical data. Furthermore, in the phase II study of neo-adjuvant therapy for early breast cancer, Giredestrant demonstrated superior proliferation inhibiting effects compared to aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen. Based on these results, an interim analysis of the lidERA comparing Giredestrant monotherapy with standard endocrine therapy as adjuvant therapy for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer, showed a significant improvement in the primary endpoint of invasive disease-free survival, or iDFS, compared to standard endocrine therapy. In the interim analysis for...
This reduces the risk of recurrence or death by 30%. These results demonstrate that Giredestrant offers the first benefit in approximately 20 years for a new endocrine therapy in early-stage breast cancer, demonstrating the potential to become the new standard of care for adjuvant therapy in hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer, which accounts for over 70% of early-stage breast cancer cases. Based on evERA and lidERA studies, we plan to file for approval for each this year, and look forward to delivering new treatment options to patients. Next, we'll introduce three examples of our efforts to promote open innovation for expanding our drug discovery engine. The first is our collaboration with Gero. Gero excels at identifying targets for age-related diseases using a platform that combines physics-based machine learning models with human data set analysis. By combining Gero's identified targets with our proprietary antibody engineering technologies-...
We aim to create first-in-class therapies for age-related diseases. The second is Araris. We have entered into a joint research and license option agreement with Araris. Their AraLinQ technologies features high stability in blood, preserves the inherent properties of antibodies, including pharmacokinetics, and can carry two or three payloads. By combining this with our antibody technologies, we aim to create highly differentiated ADCs that achieve a broader therapeutic window and enhanced efficacy. Third is Rani Therapeutics. The company possesses technologies enabling oral administration of biological products, featuring painless drug delivery within the intestinal tracts, high drug delivery efficacy, and bioavailability comparable to subcutaneous injections. By combining this, again, with our various antibody technologies, we also aim to realize biological products with high convenience through weekly or monthly oral administration, with the efficacy comparable to intravenous subcutaneous injections.
We will accelerate innovation by collaborating with partners possessing target discoveries and modality technologies that synergize with our own. Now, this slide shows market sales for major projects. Global sales are based on guidance from Roche or Galderma. There are no updates from previously disclosed figures. Within the domestic sales, the upper range section represents our enhanced products, while the lower blue section represents Roche products. This slide shows the status of our portfolio across each modality. We continue to hold a robust pipeline of in-house developed projects, all progressing steadily. We are also pleased to announce that we have named our drug discovery technologies for mid-size molecule, molecules, our third pillar of focus, SnipeTide. Snipe embodies the characteristics of our mid-sized molecule, molecules: high-precision binding to intracellular targets via oral administration.
SnipeTide evokes the peptides that form the basis of this technology, while also expressing our aspiration for it to become a new trend in peptide drug discovery. We'll continue to focus on the continuous creation and development of our proprietary products or in-house products, including mid-sized molecule drugs, to address unmet medical needs. Last but not least, our projected submissions. Projects marked with light blue stars are newly added ones. Projects marked with green stars have changed since the previous update. Specifically, for Giredestrant, we are advancing the application for adjuvant therapy based on the lidERA study that I mentioned earlier this year. The following slides are attached as reference materials. That concludes my presentation. Thank you.
Next, we will have from Taniguchi presentation on FY 2025 consolidated financial overview. We will pause at the very beginning of the presentation, so those of you who wish to take a capture, I'll please you this opportunity to do so. Hello, I'm Taniguchi. I look forward to working with you today. I would like to describe the full FY 2025 consolidated financial review. As was mentioned by Dr. Okuda, I am pleased to report that cumulative revenue through the fourth quarter reached JPY 1,257.9 billion, up by 7.5% year-on-year. Core operating profit also grew to JPY 623.2 billion, a 12.1% increase. Now, I will provide details of these results.
First, on the revenue, the pharmaceutical product sales rose to JPY 1,077.8 billion, an 8.0% increase year-on-year. By region, domestic sales were JPY 472.4 billion, up 2.5%. We had strong performance from new and mainstay products, effectively offsetting the impacts of generic penetration and NHI price revisions. Overseas sales reached JPY 605.4 billion, up 12.8%, continuing to benefit from robust exports of mainstay products through Roche. Those are for product sales. Other revenues, including royalties in here, increased by JPY 7.4 billion year-on-year to JPY 180.1 billion.
While milestone income from third party declined compared to previous year, this was offset by an increase in Hemlibra royalties from Roche, resulting in an overall year-over-year gain. Turning to expenses, cost of sales was JPY 351.5 billion, up 4.0% year-over-year. But if you look at the cost ratio, Actemra, with relatively high ratio, has dropped slightly from previous year. So -1 cost of sales ratio for pharmaceutical products improved by 1.3 percentage points to 32.6%. Regarding SG&A expenses, we successfully maintained these at JPY 103.2 billion, flat more or less year-over-year, by driving efficiency to offset rising prices and labor costs.
R&D expenses rose by JPY 3.2 billion to JPY 180.1 billion, primarily reflecting the impact of yen's depreciation. Other operating income saw a modest JPY 2.7 billion decrease, mainly due to lower gains from product transfers. As a result, operating profit grows by JPY 67.1 billion to JPY 623.2 billion, with the operating profit margin expanding to 2 percentage points to 49.5%. Net income after taxes reached JPY 451.0 billion, a 13.6% increase. Next, on the changes from last year in pharmaceutical sales. Starting with domestic...
At the very bottom, domestic oncology sales were JPY 246.5 billion, a marginal decrease of 0.5% compared to the previous year. Specifically, steady growth in the new product, Phesgo, more than offset the decline in Perjeta sales. Additionally, while Lunsumio is off to a strong start, Avastin sales declined due to generic competition. Specialty sales grew by 5.8% to JPY 255.8 billion. There was, yes, NHI price revisions, but in addition to mainstay products, Hemlibra, Actemra, and and Enspryng and Vabysmo, alongside new products, PiaSky, all delivered steady growth. Overseas pharmaceutical sales grew 12.8% to JPY 68.6 billion, primarily driven by strong exports of Hemlibra and Actemra.
Next summarizes a full-year export status to Roche of Hemlibra and Actemra. First, Hemlibra. Fourth quarter sales, the final quarter, if you look at that compared to last year, rose by JPY 35.3 billion year-on-year. If you look at the full-year cumulative sales, that reached approximately JPY 20 billion above our initial JPY 318.6 billion forecast. Actemra. Actemra, since biosimilar penetration has been slower than expected, if you look at just the fourth quarter, we have seen JPY 300 million leading to JPY 0.6 billion year-on-year increase on the fourth quarter. Consequently, for the entire year, Actemra forecast of JPY 123 billion was exceeded by approximately JPY 30 billion. So this was increased by about JPY 30 billion.
Next, on the changes, this is like a factor analysis in changes in operating profit. Starting with, the domestic segment on the left, as noted, there has been an impact of NHI price revision to drive higher operating profit. In the overseas segment, the more we have sales in the emerging markets, the unit price will become lower. So volume growth significantly outweighed the impact of lower export unit prices, combined with favorable foreign exchange movements. So these factors were key contributor to the growth of operating profit. The revenue also contributed to the profit increase, primarily through higher Hemlibra royalties. This is the breakdown of the increased profitability of JPY 672.1. On a quarterly basis, we are comparing P&L trends.
Because of the export timing, there will be more ups and downs. If you focus more on the sales, this is by quarter changes. As you can see, the export to overseas, again because of timing of the product, disease timing, there will be ups and downs. Next is the FY 2025, how the outcome actually landed. So how much of a gap there was to what we have expected. As you can see, both the sales and the profit, and for each segment, we have exceeded the projection, so it was greater than 100%. For the expenses, it's there were some pluses, but it's been slightly lower. So that led to overachieving the operating profit.
This is the byproduct sales as compared to the forecast for at the beginning of the year.
The inventory situations has changed, and there was slight negative, but everything else, like Actemra overseas, Hemlibra overseas and domestic, overall, compared to our forecast, there was a positive number. Next page is the impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations on the performance. The actual rate was JPY 161.2 , including the forward contracts, which is the basis for the sales recording, and JPY 173.57 , so JPY 12.50 depreciation. So there was a impact in terms of revenue, JPY 49.6 billion- plus, and JPY 44.2 billion in operating profit on the positive side. This is actual rate comparison compared to the forecast rate.
So in 80% of the contracts are hedged in the previous year, so 20% are unhedged. And to use the actual rate, and there was change in exchange rate. So as a result, in 2025, there was a further depreciation of yen, so of JPY 5.6 billion in sales, and JPY 3.6 billion in plus for operating profit was recorded. And the balance sheet, JPY 2,468.6 billion, which is JPY 260.2 billion increase. There was a capital, a working capital increase, and also, net asset increase because of investments. And net assets has seen increase by JPY 124.2 billion.
Compared to total assets, there was a slight lower increase, but there was some interim payment of dividends and had 82.2%, which is equity shareholders' equity ratio, which is over 80%. Here, you're talking about cash status. Last year, at the end of 2024, JPY 296.3 billion, but now there was a decrease of JPY 160.6 billion . Operating cash flow, JPY 452.1 billion. There was further positive slides, like income tax payment and dividend payments, and JPY 170 billion for special dividend was included. So, cash increase was slightly suppressed. In total, this shows the trends in ROIC and ROE, indicators of capital efficiency.
We have been focusing on ROIC so far, but depending on the company, the definitions of ROIC may vary. So in our case, the denominator doesn't include a cash, so ROIC has been at the higher level, well, 43.9% for this year, which is a one percentage point increase from year-on-year. As for ROE, which is attracting more attention, and definitions are actually universal from company to company for denominator and numerator, and 22.1%, which is a increase from the year before. This is the ROE that way exceeds the capital cost. And this is the fiscal, this fiscal's earnings forecast. As Okuda said, as for revenues, hope 6.9% increase to JPY 1,345 billion.
Operating profit to increase by 7.5% to JPY 370 billion. That is our forecast. Domestic sales are expected to grow, despite the headwinds, from drug price revisions and generic penetration. We're expecting JPY 25.6 billion growth, because of, new products growth, so 2.2% growth, which is exceeding the last year's growth. As overseas exports for products for Hemlibra and Lunsumio, they are expected to increase, but, there will be further remarkable impact, from the, biosimilars in Actemra. So there's, three point four billion, slight decrease is expected. But for the, other revenues, JPY 64.9 billion increase is expected from, the previous year, but, there will be some foreign exchange impact.
The cost side is not going to change that much, so there is going to be a support for profit growth. This is the slide for the product, pure product sales, aside from the other revenues, and Actemra is significantly negative. And Avastin, for various reasons, will remain in the negative territory. But Lunsumio, on the other hand, which is a new product, is expected to grow significantly.
And Hemlibra overseas will remain on the growth trajectory. And this is also a core and non-core adjustment. So previously, the intangible asset impairment and also restructuring cost and ERP business foundation system introduction and restructuring cost, these are actually items for core and non-core adjustment items. But in the third quarter, there was also discontinuation of five development products in this that will be recorded. And this is the capital investments currently approved internally. And last page is just for your reference. We have attached details regarding the status of our five Chugai-originated global products. That concludes my presentation. Thank you for your attention.
We will now move on to a Q&A session. We will also have Hidaka, who has led the sales, and Takano, who is also representing marketing on the sales to join. Because we would like to have as many people ask questions, we would like to limit the number of questions to two per person. The content of the Q&A session will be uploaded later together with the presentation materials. We would like to take questions first from those in the room, in the venue, and then we will take questions via Zoom webinar. If you have a question, those of you who are in this room, please raise your hand and wait for the microphone to be brought to you. Please give your affiliation and your name before stating your question. Please. [Foreign language] .
I would like to first of all ask about the Hemlibra. And you said that on the core basis this grew by double digits, and based on foreign currency neutralisation, I think this is also increased. But for this term, if you use that, it's negative. What are your thoughts about the volume as well as unit price? How will this change from last year? And for volume, I would like to know what your forecasts are for end user sales, and the fluctuations in inventory in Russia.
Thank you very much for the questions. For FY 2026 on the whole, you are correct. We expect a positive number, but if we do elemental breakdown analysis, at the point in time, as for volume and the foreign exchange impact, we are not disclosing this at the moment. Now, at the JP Morgan conference, so we talked about, they talked about... Roche talked about the single-digit growth, so positive growth, which means that we would like to replenish the inventory through our export on the whole. Hemlibra guidance number has been as disclosed.
Thank you. The second question: in Dr. Okuda's presentation, auto injector filing for Hemlibra has been mentioned several times. I believe that this is a very important agent in terms of competitiveness. When do you expect this to become available? Is it very close? Or do you still have some issues that needs to be resolved before that can take place? I would like to know more about the progress of this product.
Thank you very much for asking about Hemlibra AI. We are moving along very steadily in terms of development. We are not disclosing the dates, but we would like to provide the Hemlibra AI to the patients as quickly as possible. So we are doing everything possible to move things forward.
The person next to him, please.
Yokoyama from Nikkei Medical. giredestrant is what I would like to ask about. So, many companies are developing oral SERD drugs, but, how do you look at the differentiation from competitors? inavolisib is going to be a set of those, and, this is going to be significant with the combination with inavolisib in the breast cancer, but there is no schedule for filing for inavolisib. How do you see this? So giredestrant question. Thank you very much for your question, Yokoyama-san. Other SERD products, comparison with those, as I said in the slide, in the in vitro test trial, giredestrant compared to other SERD oral therapy, a proliferation suppression inhibitory activities were shown.
And in the lidERA study, giredestrant and abemaciclib combination therapy, compared to the conventional standard of care, ESR1 positive patients. In addition to that population, ESR1 non-mutant population, there was a PFS that is statistically significant achieved. So, regardless of ESR1 mutation, there was efficacy that was proven in the third oral product. So the CDK inhibitor, previously treated with CDK inhibitory patients had a bad prognosis, so there's higher hopes on that. And giredestrant and abemaciclib combination therapy, if you look at this, they are both oral drugs, so there's no injection to be required, so there's high convenience. And two different signal pathways can be inhibited simultaneously.
So compared to monotherapy, there is a higher antitumor effect expected. And also adjuvant, the... And compared to endocrine therapy, standard of care at the interim analysis, primary endpoint was achieved. And for early breast cancer, as a new endocrine therapy, this is the first one in the last 20 years, new benefit was brought about. So this could become a adjuvant standard of care. And so there's a high hope. And more than 70% of early breast cancer is the target for this study. So we are hoping that Giredestrant can contribute to many patients. And as for Inavolisib, there's one study with a combination with Inavolisib by Roche. But at the moment, the combination of Giredestrant and Inavolisib , there's no plan for a study with that.
But, with the study of Giredestrant and Everolimus, what sort of strategy can worked out will be something that we work with Roche. So, that's not my question. ESR can be covered, but CDK4 and CDK6, has to be suppressed. But there's studies overseas, but Japan has not participated. But phase II study will be done in Japan, and there will be a bridging study. And, at that timing, the Inavolisib can be used as a for the oral third study. So when will it be?
Well, as for Inavolisib , as you said, phase I study is now underway, and there will be bridging with overseas study data to file for approval. But, at this moment, I'm sorry, but we're not in a position to disclose that timing.
For the timing of filing, it has not been disclosed. What you filed for yesterday, the bladder cancer, MRD positive patients. For all comers, Nivo can be used, and Durvalumab can be presented as a part of the data. Compared to other products, what would be the superiority of this drug? I'm not sure who this is addressed to. The Tecentriq adjuvant of the muscular invasive bladder cancer. Thank you for your question. Compared to PFS, in OS, the primary secondary endpoint, there was a statistically significant benefit that was proven. In the ctDNA monitoring, the atezolizumab, or we can identify patients that can benefit from atezolizumab.
There could be avoidance of overtreatment or personalized medicine can be done so with the CDR approach. So if the patients with lower risk can avoid overtreatment, that would be the benefit. Thank you.
Thank you. We now would like to invite questions who are joining us through Zoom Webinar. Those of you who are joining through PC or tablet PC, please click the hand, Show of Hands icon at the bottom. We will call your name, and when we unmute you, please give your name, and your affiliation. And if you want to cancel your question, then please use the button to lower your hand. From JP Morgan, Wakao-san, please. Wakao-san, please.
Well, thank you very much. Wakao with JP Morgan, can you hear me?
Yes. Yes, we can.
The first question, first of my question is related to the royalty. Other than coming from Roche and also other, revenues r oyalty from other than Roche is for Orforglipron and Everolimus sales, or increase thereof, I believe. Am I right? If that is the case, Orforglipron has not been approved, so I would like to know how you are incorporating that. And we also expect the sales to grow considerably. I would like to have you comment on this.
This is Taniguchi speaking. Thank you, Wakao-san. Revenue stream from other than Roche, yes, is expanding in 2026, and you are absolutely right in your understanding. Vast majority comes from those two product royalties. That's true. But other sales revenue, in general terms, this is like milestone payment. Now, as for the content, this still is not disclosed, including of what we are filing today. We have introduced several assumptions and have reflected in what we are saying.
I would like you to tell us about how you incorporate the Orforglipron. I think, because, the product is not out there, you must be, exercising conservatism.
Yes, for anything that is uncertain, our basic thinking is to make sure that, we will use reasonable assumptions.
Second question is about 45%, dividend payout ratio.
The operating profit in the mid to long term will lead to greater profit, and you are focused more on ROE, which means that at some point in time in the future, you will raise a payout ratio. There are no reasons you, for you not to.
Are you discussing this internally, of raising the payout ratio to above 45%? And if you have decided no, why?
Thank you, Wakao-san, for that question. We have provided last year at this time our capital allocation policies, and we wanted to target 40% stably. And so, dividend payment included is based on that. For the time being, we have no plans of revising or reviewing this, and I'm sure you understand that. Now, the question is, will we ever consider revisiting? Are we not going to revise this ever? But we cannot say anything definitive at this point in time. We'll be looking at objectively our situation as well as our financial conditions. Now, ROE, yes, we are looking at our cost of capital, and we have disclosed this. We consider to be about 7%, which means that our ROE is well above that.
So it's not that we are going to make an active adjustment of the capital. We don't think that we are at the situation where we need to boost ROE today. In any case, we should continue to maintain and try to strive for improvement of capital efficiency.
Thank you. That's all I have.
Morgan Stanley, MUFJ Securities, Mr. Muraoka, please.
Thank you. I am Muraoka from Morgan Stanley. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Thank you. My question is also addressed to Taniguchi-san for the forecast or guidance, for more detailed way of interpretation. Slide seven, the forecast by product. So overseas and others, there will be an increase of JPY 70 billion, which is significant. And nemolizumab, Lunsumio export will probably the biggest contributor, and if that's the case, then the royalties from entities other than Roche, the increase of JPY 77.3 billion, and then, compared to the Nemolizumab, Orforglipron will be larger. That's our guess. But is that something that is valid?
Thank you very much for your question. Taniguchi speaking. For the breakdown of royalties, for the portions that are not from Roche, those two that you mentioned is overwhelmingly important. That's what I can tell you. But as for the allocation between these two, at the moment, we cannot answer that question. So also, Orforglipron, it has not been launched yet, and you have to look at the timing of the launch, which is quite difficult discussion. So, we remain undisclosed for the allocation. As for exports, as for Nemolizumab exports, so this was recorded in the previous fiscal year, but for this fiscal year, we'll still continue to expect growth, and that has been incorporated in our guidance that we provided this time. Does that answer your question?
... so overseas, others, JPY 32.6 billion, JPY 70 billion, JPY 17 billion year-on-year. It is mostly from Nemolizumab. Yes. And also the breakdown on this page is seven. The domestic and specialties and others sales, JPY 33.3 billion, and year-on-year growth of JPY 12 billion. Tamiflu is not going to grow. So what's included in this number? Earlier, you talked about P&L, cost of goods, cost of sales ratio that is assumed to increase. So maybe the products that are included here have higher cost of sales, so those that are not in the pipeline, but there is something that you are going to start to sell. That's my personal guess, but am I wrong?
Thank you. For the cost of sales ratio, compared to 2025, in 2026, there's a positive growth. The background, there is a lot of factors, but if you compare domestic and overseas sales, the cost of sales ratio is much higher in domestic products. So this is related to products. So overseas, there's JPY 3.4 billion decline, but JPY 200 billion-JPY 20 billion increase for domestic sales. So domestic products ratio has increased, and that has brought up the cost of sales overall. As for more details, it is not disclosed, but you mentioned Tamiflu. There are very many various factors involved, products that are not mentioned and that are expected to grow this year that are included in others.
So those that are expected to grow are not in the pipeline or the filing schedule on page 39. Those are not included in those schedule?
No, no, no, no. That's not the case. There are some that are included. But all that are expected to be filed are anti-cancer drugs. Well, Hidaka, from sales speaking, as you said, there's still uncertainty, a lot of uncertainty. But Elevidys, the gene therapy, sales are incorporated to some extent, and maybe that would satisfy your question.
Elevidys. Okay, thank you. That's all. Thank you.
Thank you. Next, from Citigroup, Yamaguchi-san, please. Yes, can you hear, can you hear me?
Yes, thank you very much for this opportunity. At the very beginning, about the update of midterm business plan, you talked about the production efficiency of blockbusters have improved from 0.3 to 0.6. My understanding, of course, is you are aiming for one. Although there are different risks, based on current pipeline, do you think that you have, you are achieving what you can achieve? So what's your thoughts about this 0.6, vis-à-vis 2026 and 2030?
This is Okuda speaking. Thank you, Yamaguchi-san, for your questions. So you're looking at this slide, right? Looking back in the 2000s, it was 0.1, so one per 20. In the 2010s, it tripled. And if it's in the five years since we began the strategy 2030, we have actually launched three. You talked about, Yamaguchi-san, blockbusters, but this is about global in-house original product being successfully developed and launched. We have focused on antibody plus a small molecule that we have achieved launch targets between 2026 to 2030. So in the latter half of TOP I 2030, our strategy is to further increase this. When we talk about mid-size molecule, middle molecule, the white will gradually become more purple if we succeed.
Beyond 2031, this could become, like, one every year or greater, global launch that will further drive growth or even better than that. With increased modality, there's this growth will increase because of the mid-size molecules. Yes, we will look at antibody, small molecule, mid molecule, and other in balance, and we're talking about other modalities. We were discussing this in the TOP I 2030 strategy discussion. We hope to achieve multi-modality, so we're going to increase that.
Well, thank you very much. The other question is Giredestrant, which you have explained at length, so we have high expectation. What is your peak sales forecast, or is it, or this is too early?
Well, thank you for that question. For Giredestrant, we are not disclosing that.
... what would be the TAM in, Japan?
So the targeted market size. The number of patients or the existing market size, probably quite large, but I would like to know which segment you are targeting. If you don't have that information, if you could provide information later. Yes, we would like to confirm and get back to you. That's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you very much. From Macquarie Capital, Mr. Tony Ren, please.
Hi there. Can you hear me?
[Foreign language]
Okay, perfect. Yeah, thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to,
The first question I would like to ask is about your CapEx. You commented on the Araris partnership for ADCs, right? My understanding is that the CapEx is can be very intensive for ADCs. In fact, one of your peer companies recently announced a very large CapEx project for their ADCs. So I just wanted to see how are you thinking about the CapEx related to the ADC drugs. Are you building the production capacity internally? Are you using CDMOs? Are you using facilities from Roche? Is this included in your CapEx budget for 2026? So that's my first question.
Thank you very much for your question, Mr. Tony Ren. As for the CapEx, for the current status, Araris and Chugai Pharmaceutical are now engaged in joint research. So we're not. We haven't discussed the CapEx. We just engaged in joint research. Therefore, as for the 2026 in the CapEx budget, this is not included.
Okay, very good.
[Foreign language]
My second question is on the development of your GYM329, Emiglobart in obesity. So the GYM329 phase II trial of Emiglobart in obesity. If we look at the ClinicalTrials.gov, it is the primary completion is August 2026. Can you confirm that you will be releasing phase II results roughly around that time as well?
GYM329, obesity. Phase II trial. Thank you very much for your question on that. So at the outset, as I said in the presentation, the result of the clinical study is going to be released by the end of this fiscal year.
Okay, very clear. Yeah, thank you very much.
[Foreign language]. From UBS Securities, we have, Seki-san. I'm Seki with UBS. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you very much, and we congratulate you on an excellent performance. In other revenues, this royalty or milestone is, it includes something, some items that are outside of, Chugai's control. If, the actual or revenue, other revenue does not meet your target, what are some, avenues that will change, but... Or do, don't we need to worry about this because you are being very conservative? Well, thank you very much, Seki-san. I am Taniguchi. Ooh, the latter. We have exercised conservatism, but if it is, so unexpected happen, we cannot negate the possibility that something will happen outside this.
But how this will be absorbed within the entire portfolio, this is something that we will be communicating to you in the quarterly earnings call. So we will keep you appraised or updated within the profit planning. Thank you. The second question has to do with biological POC of DONQ52, and I would like you to supplement my understanding. What does this mean? In phase I study, like, PBMC, like, peripheral blood monocyte? Or are you looking at that kind of response at the cell level? Thank you very much for that question about the DONQ52. We have conducted what we call phase Ia study. This is gluten. Celiac disease patients who are stable-
... After administering DONQ52 in such patients for three days, we challenged them with the wheat. And the gluten dependent immune response is what we are trying to induce, and then we give DONQ52 to see if the gluten-dependent immune response can be suppressed. In this study, in addition to PK, we'll be looking at pharmacological action. T-cell activation suppression due to gluten ingestion is also looked into, as well as other biomarkers. What was the outcome of the three-day challenge study? We are now in the process of analyzing this, and when we are ready to publish data, we would like to do so. Well, thank you very much. That's all for me.
Thank you very much. Next, from SMBC Nikko Securities, Mr. Wada, please.
[Foreign language]
Ah, Wada-san, are you there? Yes, Wada from SMBC Nikko Securities. Thank you. So I'd like to also ask about DONQ52. So licensing out schedule, how do you look at that schedule and development? As you saw, phase II study is going to be initiated. So as I heard, this is going to be licensed out to other companies. I think that is the main strategy. Maybe it will be the phase II timing that you're going to do that. But this is going to be phase II performed by your own company, on your own. So what would be the timing of phase II, as you see it?
So Wada-san, thank you very much for your question on DONQ52. For licensing out, strategy and, timing of individual products, we cannot answer those questions. But, phase II study that we announced, this time, would be performed by Chugai Pharmaceutical.
Just for clarification, so in the Roche pipeline, this is in phase I, so you're not aligned with Roche on this particular product. Is that correct?
Probably. This is not described in the Roche material or pipeline. We don't have the information that they have introduced this. So in the Roche pipeline, Chugai's projects are also described, but this doesn't show that they have licensed in our product.
Thank you. As Yamaguchi-san asked, page 15, TOP I 2030, one per year-
Global product launch, that is target. And, I'd like to ask about the strategy of research and development. So from 2011- 2020, 0.3 per year, but 2021-2025, 0.6 per year, it has doubled. But R&D, around 2015, JPY 80 billion was spent, and in 2023, JPY 160 billion, so this was doubled as well. So that's why the number of launches has been increased, I understand that. But, between now and 2030, if you are to launch one per year, then, 1.5 times R&D expenses will be required. So, in order to achieve one launch per year, what is your expectation on the R&D in expenses or spending?
Okuda will answer that question first, and then, so the future R&D investments, I would like to ask Taniguchi to answer the question.
So the R&D expenses and number of launches, whether they are correlated or linked, it's not necessarily the case. So the number of launches, what would be the function of, of this? So R&D, aside from R&D, but the cycle time of development, the speed of development, and probability of success, and, those, will be, significant factors. So there's a time lag between R&D activities and launch of the products, so there is not that simple correlation. So as a principle for R&D activities, high-quality, quality, products have to be developed. So this has been the case in the past, but, with a higher probability of, success, we came up with the molecule. In the phase III, development, the first indication, has, has achieved 100% success, probability.
So that quality principle has to be maintained or expanded while engaged in this drug development. So R&D's expenses and number of launches are not directly related necessarily. But on the other hand, if you look at R&D expenses, it includes the personnel cost, and this is a very important resources to drive research. So this R&D expenses has been increased in accordance with the profit increase. So I'd like to ask Taniguchi to add up.... compared to 2025, 5.5% increase was recorded. That was a fact. But as Okuda said, so the productivity increase is something that we give priority, and that it is also true for R&D. By utilizing AI and go or no-go decision will be further refined. So we are hoping to enhance the productivity.
So it doesn't necessarily mean that R&D expenses are going to keep going up rapidly. The target for percentage of R&D expenses, there's no such figure that we have in mind. But as the projects make progress, there could be increase in development expenses. That could be the one that we might end up with, but we are also keeping an eye on productivity and efficiency so that we can maximize our efforts. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Next, from Sanford Bernstein, Sogi-san, please. Well, thank you very much. About Hemlibra, I have two questions. The first question is related to overseas sales. This time in 2026, the assumption of Swiss franc... I mean, you are expecting 6% depreciation of the yen. If that is the assumption, Hemlibra, if I understand, the plan is to decrease. Of course, sales in the international market, I mean, by Roche or by Hemlibra going up, you said, will lead to lower unit price. Even if the volume increases, the lower unit price will have greater effect. So you're selling more, but is it possible that the yen amount of export come down? Is that possible? Thank you very much, Sogi-san. This is Taniguchi speaking.
Hemlibra, our forecast for this year, and you're asking about the breakdown, which, of course, is related to unit price, volume, and foreign exchange factors. I would like to keep from giving you any responses in detail, but it is true that there has been a foreign exchange effect, positive. What about the net of that? Then we have the unit price, multiplied by volume. Unit price actually has to do with the weighted average in the market previous year applied. So we will be looking at market price, and that sort of decides what the export price is going to be. Volume is something that's updated every term in emerging market. Not just the emerging market, but, like, it is possible that volume increase globally.
This has happened in the past, so there's no reason to think that this will not happen in the future. And that multiplied by unit price will give us the results. Thank you very much. Also about the Hemlibra, and this is related to auto injector. By launching this, what level of upside do you expect? Hemlibra, I believe, has penetrated the market. Uptake has been great. So who are the patients that have not been able to capture without the auto injector? And I also would like to understand what Roche has in mind related to this. Well, thank you very much. I would like to respond. Auto injector development from Hemlibra, we have been striving with the aim of raising convenience of our patients.
If we have auto injector of Hemlibra, we expect the uptake to increase, but Mim8 , a competition, could come up with a very convenient device. So please do understand that we are being a defensive... We're taking a defensive approach to that, too. Thank you very much. Because of time, we would like to take one last question from Goldman Sachs. We have Ueda-san.
From Goldman Sachs. Ueda from Goldman Sachs. The first question is about the U.S. partnering office that has been launched. So at the moment, in the previous activities, what were the challenges that you faced to trigger this, and what kind of effects that you're expecting out of this initiative? Thank you for the question. Well, as for U.S. partnering office, this is located in South San Francisco, in the West Coast, and it just started operation. So in Silicon Valley there are many bioventures and universities in the U.S. There are numerous universities located there. And of course, we can keep communication from Japan, but by physically locating in the area, bioventures and academia and venture capitals, we will have closer communication with those parties so that we can achieve open innovation.
The drug discovery capabilities increase is the primary purpose, but there will be effective result that we can expect. So that's why we've decided to locate our office in West Coast or South San Francisco. But ahead of this, there was a corporate venture capital that was established in 2023 in Boston, and it's been already two years since the start of the operation. And we went into venture communities, and from venture companies or startup companies, there was a lot of information that we received. So as the technology is mature, reaches maturity, we could have a joint or collaboration with those, and there's a link there as well.
But it's not just in the U.S., but in Singapore, there is similar function, and there's also a partnering function in London, and Chugai headquarters, Tokyo headquarters, has this function. So by establishing global partnership, partnering network, we are hoping to increase our drug discovery capabilities. That's our intention. Thank you. Thank you for the answer. I think we, we're run out of time, so I'd like to leave here. Thank you.
Thank you very much. With that, we would like to conclude... Chugai Pharmaceutical fiscal year 2025 financial results presentation. We apologize for the difficulty you experienced at the first half of the presentations. We will provide backup information via web. If there are any questions that you were not able to ask, please do contact us at the corporate IR. The phone number, as well as email address, is shown on the last page of the presentation material. Thank you very much once again for joining us, taking time out of your busy schedule.