Medytoks, Up 60% in a Month... Will the Rebound Continue?

[Asia Economy Reporter Koh Hyung-kwang] Medytox's stock price has surged more than 60% over the past month. The stock price, which had plummeted due to the cancellation of the approval for its main product Meditoxin in the first half of this year, is showing signs of rekindling a rebound.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 3rd, Medytox was traded at 272,000 KRW on the KOSDAQ market as of 10 a.m., up 4.3% from the previous trading day. It has risen for nine consecutive trading days, increasing by 29.4% during this period. Compared to the closing price of 169,000 KRW on the 3rd of last month, it represents a sharp increase of 60.9%.

The stock price rise was driven by institutional investors. Institutions purchased Medytox shares worth 32.5 billion KRW over the past month, leading the price increase. Meanwhile, individuals and foreigners net sold 23 billion KRW and 6.6 billion KRW respectively during the same period.

The foundation for the stock price rebound was news last month that the court accepted the suspension of execution request regarding the cancellation of approval for Meditoxin, Korea's first domestically produced botulinum toxin product. On the 14th of last month, the Daejeon High Court ruled in favor of Medytox in a lawsuit filed against the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, requesting suspension of the execution of the cancellation of Meditoxin's product approval. This allowed Medytox to continue selling Meditoxin until the final verdict of the main lawsuit is issued. Following this news, the stock price steadily rose, even hitting the daily price limit the next day.

Additionally, receiving a development milestone payment of 20 million USD (approximately 24 billion KRW) related to Phase 3 clinical trials from Allergan positively influenced the stock price. Sun Min-jung, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, explained, "Among various rumors related to Medytox, one was that Allergan had no intention to develop Innotox and that it might soon be returned, which deliberately damaged Innotox's value. However, receiving this milestone payment clearly disproves such baseless rumors."

The significant resolution of uncertainties surrounding the botulinum toxin strain lawsuit with Daewoong Pharmaceutical also acted as a positive factor. In early July, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a preliminary ruling ordering a 10-year import ban on Nabota, stating that Daewoong Pharmaceutical had infringed on Medytox's trade secrets. Kim Tae-hee, a researcher at Mirae Asset Daewoo, said, "Since the ITC administrative law judge's opinion was clear, the likelihood of a change in the final ruling is low, and thus Medytox has secured a favorable position in the domestic and international strain lawsuits." He added, "The final ruling is scheduled for November 6, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical is known to plan to file a lawsuit in federal court if it loses."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.