[Weekly HOT Stocks] Paksel Bio, Clinical Expectations for Liver Cancer Treatment... Stock Price Soars Upward

Individual Investors Net Buy 34.9 Billion KRW in One Week... Stock Price Rises 88%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] Baxel Bio, a company researching and developing anticancer immunotherapy, has captured the attention of individual investors for a week.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 1st, individual investors net purchased 34.9 billion KRW worth of Baxel Bio shares from the 26th to the 30th. Baxel Bio ranked first among the top net purchase stocks by individual investors in the KOSDAQ market during this period.

Baxel Bio's stock price rose significantly over the week due to clinical expectations for its liver cancer treatment. The closing price, which was 24,600 KRW on the 23rd, rose to 46,200 KRW on the 30th, an increase of 87.8% in one week. On the 30th, it hit the upper limit, rising 29.96% (10,650 KRW) compared to the previous session.

The market's focus is on Baxel Bio's liver cancer treatment 'VAX-NK.' According to Hanyang Securities, the Phase 1 clinical trial conducted from 2016 to 2017 involved 11 patients with inoperable advanced liver cancer. The results at the two-month mark after administration were 4 complete responses (CR), 1 partial response (PR), 4 stable disease (SD), and 2 progressive disease (PD).

Researcher Oh Byung-yong of Hanyang Securities explained, "Complete response means that cancer cells have completely disappeared from the body," adding, "As of about three years after the clinical trial ended, 10 out of the 11 patients are still alive. As of January this year, the median survival period reached 40 months."

Researcher Oh also added, "In the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial, a complete response was observed from the first patient," and "In Phase 2 of VAX-NK, twice the amount of NK cells are administered compared to Phase 1. We can expect the effect to be better than in Phase 1."

Regarding Baxel Bio, Yoo Wook-jae, a researcher at IBK Investment & Securities, said, "It is a biotech company researching and developing anticancer immunotherapy. It is a spin-off from Chonnam National University Medical School and the Clinical Vaccine Research and Development Project Group," adding, "It was listed through a technology special evaluation (Kibo Technology Fund A, eCredible BBB). Although there is no revenue yet, it is focusing on clinical Phase 2a research of hepatic artery anticancer infusion therapy and combination therapy natural killer cell treatment (VAX-NK), dendritic cell treatment (VAX-DC), preclinical research of CAR-T, and after the completion of clinical trials of Boxlucin-15, it is striving for product approval."