As COVID-19 Vaccinations Begin... Pharmaceutical Stocks Fail to Gain Momentum

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Pharmaceutical stocks, which saw their value soar during last year's COVID-19 pandemic, have been struggling this year. Although stock prices rose significantly on hopes for the development of infectious disease treatments, the start of COVID-19 vaccinations appears to have reflected skepticism about the necessity of treatments.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 3rd, among the bottom 10 stocks by price fluctuation rate in the KOSDAQ market up to the previous day this year, seven were pharmaceutical stocks, excluding Central Insight (-72.93%), which faced delisting reasons, and Myungshin Industry (-42.61%), a Tesla partner company.

Ilyang Pharmaceutical preferred shares fell by as much as 60.88%, and Ilyang Pharmaceutical itself dropped 49.92%. Other names included GeneOne Life Science (-45.94%), Chong Kun Dang (-38.19%), SK Biopharm (-37.87%), HanAll Biopharma (-36.93%), and Jeil Pharmaceutical (-36.66%). Expanding to the bottom 50 stocks by fluctuation rate, pharmaceutical stocks accounted for 30.

The industry analyzes that as the global spread of COVID-19 began, expectations for pharmaceutical companies' treatment development waned this year, significantly pulling down stock prices. In fact, most pharmaceutical companies whose stock prices fell sharply had been developing COVID-19 treatments last year, and their stock prices soared until the second half of last year.

Ilyang Pharmaceutical conducted Phase 3 clinical trials in Russia last year for its leukemia drug Supect (active ingredient radotinib) as a COVID-19 treatment, and from March to its yearly peak on July 24, the stock price surged 322.08%. However, after news broke last month that the trial had failed, the stock price dropped 34% over the following month.

GeneOne Life Science's stock price began rising from January last year and surged 1347.55% until September 25, when clinical approval news for its COVID-19 treatment was announced. Chong Kun Dang, which also developed a COVID-19 treatment, saw its stock price increase 249.70% from the market downturn on March 20 to its yearly high on December 24. HanAll Biopharma's interferon asset, previously used for AIDS treatment, showed effectiveness in COVID-19 patients, causing its stock price to rise 132.83% from March 20 to September 11 last year. Jeil Pharmaceutical's stock price rose 311.60% until November 13 from the market downturn last year, buoyed by expectations for the success of its partner Pfizer's vaccine development.

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