Medical artificial intelligence (AI) company Lunit posted its highest-ever first-quarter revenue, driven by overseas sales growth. Lunit said Monday that its first-quarter consolidated revenue reached 23.95 billion won, up 25% from a year earlier.
Overseas revenue rose 29% year-on-year to 23.21 billion won, accounting for 97% of total sales and driving the results.
Operating loss narrowed about 35% year-on-year to 13.59 billion won, while the cash operating deficit shrank about 54% to 6.82 billion won. The improvement is attributed to a combination of revenue growth and cost efficiency. According to Lunit, research and development (R&D) expenses and fixed costs declined in the first quarter, with profitability improvements gaining traction.
Revenue from the cancer diagnostics business rose 22% year-on-year to 22.27 billion won. The growth is attributed to Lunit International's contract extension with RadNet, one of North America's largest outpatient radiology providers. The North American market has grown to account for about 70% of revenue from Lunit's cancer diagnostics business.
Revenue from the cancer treatment business jumped 90% year-on-year to 1.68 billion won. The growth is attributed to surging demand for Lunit's immunohistochemistry quantitative analysis solution in the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) market, amid the rapid expansion of the AI biomarker market for precision medicine.
Lunit plans to further strengthen the profitability of its companion diagnostics business model with pharmaceutical companies, covering cancer therapeutics and AI biomarkers. "In the first quarter, we achieved both top-line growth and profitability improvement, posting record first-quarter revenue while significantly narrowing our losses," Lunit CEO Seo Bum-seok said. "We will make sure to reach break-even point (BEP) on an EBITDA basis this year."
