[Click eStock] "Celltrion, Focus on COVID-19 Treatment Business"
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Ji-hwan] Eugene Investment & Securities on the 2nd gave a 'Buy' rating and a target price of 250,000 KRW for Celltrion, stating that the therapeutic development business, which began with the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), can be seen as having one more pipeline added.
Researcher Han Byung-hwa of Eugene Investment & Securities said, "Celltrion has produced meaningful results in animal efficacy tests related to the development of COVID-19 antibody therapeutics," adding, "The selected neutralizing antibodies received significant clinical observation scores in both high and low doses in experiments on parrots, and CT scans of the lungs confirmed a marked reduction in inflammation signs 2 and 6 days after therapeutic administration." He further noted that in the nasal cavity and lungs, both RT-PCR and cell culture virus titer measurement methods showed that in the high-dose group, the virus decreased by up to more than 100 times.
Celltrion plans to expand clinical animals from parrots to hamsters, monkeys, and mice in June, and after IND approval, simultaneously conduct Phase 1 and 2 trials between late July and August. In this case, interim results of Phases 1 and 2 are expected to be confirmed within the year.
Researcher Han said, "If Phase 3 begins early next year, depending on the pandemic's intensity and the therapeutic's effectiveness, it may be possible to confirm the launch by the end of the year at the earliest."
Above all, the commercialization of COVID-19 therapeutics requires not only development capabilities but also production capacity, making it a competitive area among global top companies. Currently, Eli Lilly, Amgen, AstraZeneca, GSK (ViiV), Regeneron, and Celltrion are competing at similar stages.
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Researcher Han evaluated, "Assuming a resurgence after early winter, even if all competitors develop therapeutics, it will not be easy to solve production issues. Given Celltrion's experience in developing antibody therapeutics for influenza and MERS, and its production capacity that does not lag behind overseas big pharma, it can be considered that one more promising pipeline has been added."
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