[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] ABL Bio's stock price fell more than 9% during trading on the 6th. The price plunged in the afternoon following news of the discontinuation of the joint development of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) antibody treatment.
As of 2:37 PM that day, ABL Bio was trading at 24,400 KRW, down 9.46% from the previous trading day. ABL Bio started the day at 27,200 KRW, up 0.93% from the previous day, showing a slight decline of around 1% until the morning session, but the stock price plummeted after news broke that the joint development of the COVID-19 treatment with the multinational pharmaceutical company HiFi Bio had fallen through.
ABL Bio and HiFi Bio had agreed on key contract terms last September to jointly develop a COVID-19 antibody treatment.
According to ABL Bio, during the process of conducting detailed discussions on the development plan to finalize the contract, concerns about future business feasibility arose due to delays in clinical trials, resulting in failure to reach a final agreement. The company stated that the negotiations were terminated by mutual agreement and that no financial or legal damages would be incurred by the company.
Lee Sang-hoon, CEO of ABL Bio, said, "Many people had high expectations for the COVID-19 antibody treatment jointly developed by ABL Bio, and I regret to deliver this unfortunate news." He added, "With a heavy sense of responsibility, we will focus even more on research and development in the fields of immune oncology based on our existing bispecific antibody platform, treatments for degenerative brain diseases, and antibody-drug conjugates (ADC)."
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