Money Today Reporter Kim So-yeon | 2024.01.29 13:01
Today’s point
There is growing interest in whether domestic pharmaceutical and bio companies will reach their unprecedented peak. Stock prices and performance are rising due to the continued momentum of new drug development, benefits from the US-China conflict, and ADC (conjugated antibody drugs), a new growth engine. At 11:50 am on the 29th, Samsung BioLogics, a leading pharmaceutical and biotech stock, records a gain of 805,000, an increase of 32,000 (4.14%) from the previous day. It rose 5% during the day and touched 815,000 won. It is expected to surpass the 52-week high soon (KRW 830,000).
Samsung BioLogics’ stock price rose for four consecutive months after hitting an annual low of 668,000 won in October last year, up a total of 21% today. In addition to the surprising performance, expectations were raised about the benefits of regulation of Chinese companies.
On the 25th, Samsung BioLogics announced that it achieved sales of 3.6946 trillion won and operating profit of 1.1137 trillion won last year, an increase of 23% and 13%, respectively, compared to the previous year. It is the first domestic pharmaceutical and bio company to surpass 1 trillion won in operating profit, a surprising performance that even the market did not expect.
In addition, expectations of a return from the confrontation between the United States and China that day were added. On the 25th (local time), the US Congress introduced a bill to re-evaluate and suspend transactions with certain bio-companies. Because Chinese bio companies threaten American security by cooperating with military and intelligence agencies, transactions with administrative agencies such as the federal government, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Welfare should be prohibited. Among the companies mentioned as being subject to a trading ban are Wuxi AppTec (a subsidiary of Wuxi Biologics) and BGI Genomics.
Accordingly, on the 26th (local time), the stock price of Wuxi Biologics plunged 18.17%, and the stock price of Wuxi Apptech plunged 10%. As Wuxi Biologics is a company with a high share of biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing (CDMO), Samsung Bilogics, a competitor in the same industry, is expected to benefit. Major players in the global CDMO market include the Swiss company Lonza, China’s Wuxi BioLogics, Korea’s Samsung BioLogics, Japan’s Fujifilm, and Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim.
Park Jae-kyung, a researcher at Hana Securities, said, “Investment sentiments toward Samsung BioLogics are expected to improve to some extent due to expectations of the benefits of this bill.”
If the conflict between the US and China continues, there is a possibility that Korean products will replace not only the CDMO market but also biosimilar drugs sold in the US by Chinese companies. In this case, Celltrion, SK Biopharmaceuticals, etc. may benefit greatly. Accordingly, Celltrion and SK Bioscience rise 2%. SK Biopharmaceuticals, which announced its performance on this day, is up 6% with the news that its operating loss last year was 37.1 billion won, a significant decrease compared to the previous year.
In the KOSDAQ market, good news for new drug development continues, focusing on HLB. HLB’s stock price rose 59% in December last year on news of imminent US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a new liver cancer treatment, and has soared 38% this year. The stock prices of all HLB affiliates are soaring, including HLB Global, an HLB affiliate, up 25% and HLB Biostep, up 21%. Celltrion Pharmaceutical and Alteogen also occupy the 4th and 5th places in the highest KOSDAQ market capitalization stocks, and the 3rd to 5th places are all biopharmaceutical companies.
ADC emerged as a hot topic at the recently concluded JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, the world’s largest pharma and bio event, and is being assessed to have a new growth engine. ADC is an anticancer drug that accurately targets only specific cancer cells, and currently, ABL Bio and LegoChem Bio are the leading companies. Major healthcare companies such as Samsung BioLogics, Celltrion, and Lotte BioLogics are also developing joint ventures with ADC operators.
Ha Hyun-soo, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, said, “Antibody drugs are a representative drug method (treatment method), with more than 10 receiving FDA approval each year.
“And the proportion of total sales is increasing, so it will become a new driving force,” he said. “Recently, investment sentiment is reviving as pharma and bio companies add new drug development momentum, good performance, M&A (merger and acquisition) issues, and peak interest rate expectations, so it is expected to improve.” “I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
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