SillaJen announced on Jan. 1 that it has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval to amend the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for Phase 1 clinical trials of its BAL0891 cancer drug candidate.BAL0891 is a mitotic checkpoint inhibitor (MCI) class anticancer drug
Korea Exchange decided on Nov. 4 to delist Kolon TissueGene. Previously, it turned out that its Invossa-K, the world’s first gene therapy product for osteoarthritis patients, contains renal cells instead of chondrocytes and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety canceled its approval in May last year
Sillajen announced on Oct. 19 that it has settled a lawsuit with Fortis Advisor LLC by agreeing to pay the U.S. company 5.5 billion won worth of milestones.Fortis Advisor is a service company that represents shareholders of U.S. company Jennerex, which was acquired by Sillajen in 2013.These former s
The authors are analysts of NH Investment & Securities. They can be reached at william.ku@nhqv.com and weihan@nhqv.com, respectively. – Ed. 1. Confident towards domestic bio sector’s mid/long-term growth potentialDomestic bio sector: 20-year-long new drug development historyKorea’s first domesticall
The authors are analysts of NH Investment & Securities. They can be reached at william.ku@nhqv.com and weihan@nhqv.com, respectively. – Ed. 1. Domestic market conditions remain soundMajor pharmas sustain growthUp until 2012, Korea’s pharma industry players mainly focused on generic drug sales, targe
This year, South Korea's biotech industry faced a crisis due to a series of phase 3 clinical trial failures. The examples include Kolon TissueGene, Helixmith and SillaJen. The phase 3 clinical trial for Kolon TissueGene’s Invossa had to be stopped due to the use of unapproved cells that can lead
The Korea Exchange announced on Oct. 6 that Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Hyundai Motor, Celltrion and LG Chem were found on the KOSPI’s top 10 market cap list at the end of last year, at the end of the first half of this year and on Oct. 4 this year.POSCO, SK Telecom and Korea Electric Power Corp.
As the reliability of technical evaluation on biotech companies has become an issue, South Korea’s stock exchange operator Korea Exchange (KRX) has decided to reform the evaluation system for technology firms for listing.KRX announced on Sept. 3 that it has decided to implement an improved technical
The prosecution has begun an investigation into Sillajen, a Kosdaq-listed company, in connection with the massive trading of common stocks prior to the recent announcement regading the inefficacy of the company’s anti-cancer drug “Pexa Vac.”According to the prosecution, the Joint Securities Crime In
An increasing number of corporate executives are buying treasury shares to help defend their company shares as a host of stocks hits new yearly lows amid a bearish run in the Korean market.Kumyang Co. CEO Ryu Gwang-jy announced that he bought back 76,153 company shares over the last three days, acco
The South Korean stock market has plunged to the level of 11 years ago when the global financial crisis happened. The won-dollar exchange rate skyrocketed due to the fears of a trade dispute between the United States and China and concerns over Japan’s decision to exclude South Korea from its trade
A considerable number of Korean biotech ventures are shifting the focus of their new drug development efforts from technology exports to phase-3 clinical trials following SillaJen’s aborted global phase 3 clinical trial for its highly anticipated liver cancer treatment.Sillajen announced on Aug. 4 t
The top 20 companies in the secondary KOSDAQ market have lost nearly 12 trillion won (US$10.24 billion) in market value so far this year. This is because most of the biotech, media and entertainment stocks, which rank among the top in terms of market cap and are the three pillars of the KOSDAQ marke
While the Invossa shock has damaged the credibility of Korea’s biotech industry, Korean biotechnology companies are redoubling efforts to find their way into the overseas market.Industry sources said on June 2 that a total of 37 Korean companies will participate in Bio USA 2019, the world's larg
Domestic biopharmaceutical companies are putting more efforts into research and development (R&D) to advance into the rapidly growing immune cancer drug market.Boryung Pharmaceutical started on April 23 the operation of a new production complex in the Junggok industrial complex in South Chungcheon P
Biotech shares are staggering due to a spate of unfavorable factors involving Samsung BioLogics Co. and Kolon TissueGene Inc. Investors have lost confidence in domestic biotech companies as a whole and are turning away from them.Samsung BioLogics, a biopharmaceutical unit of top South Korean conglom
The National Assembly is set to pass a bill on advanced biopharmaceuticals, which is intended to strengthen the global competitiveness of the Korean biotech industry.The bill examination subcommittee of the Legislation and Judicial Committee of the National Assembly decided on April 3 to put the bil
As the KOSDAQ stock index has been suffering a sharp drop from last month, the number of KOSDAQ-listed firms with a market capitalization of 1 trillion won (US$882.61 million) or more is on the decrease.According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on November 14, the number of companies with a market cap o
The stock price of Samsung BioLogic plunged on Nov. 12, two days ahead of a verdict from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) on the accounting fraud allegations against the company.Samsung BioLogics closed at 285,500 won (US$250.99) on the benchmark KOSPI market on Nov. 12, down 22.42 percen
The secondary KOSDAQ plunged to below the 700 mark in nearly one year due to a sharp drop of entertainment and bio stock prices. This is because confidence in the market has failed as even the US economy and stock market, which have led to boom in the global stock market, show signs of faltering and