[Click eStock] "HanAll Biopharma, US Developer's Stock Soars... Buying Opportunity"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Hanyang Securities analyzed on the 18th that HanAll Biopharma appears to be a buying opportunity as the stock price of the U.S. developer of its new drug is soaring, sharing profits with HanAll Biopharma.

Oh Byung-yong, a researcher at Hanyang Securities, stated in a report on the same day, “The stock price of Immunovant, the U.S. developer of HanAll Biopharma’s new drug ‘Batoclimab (HL161),’ has risen more than 3.5 times from about $5 per share in September last year to about $19 currently,” adding, “The reason for the sharp rise in stock price is that competitor Argenx launched the Anti-FcRn therapeutic ‘Vyvgart,’ which has the same mechanism of action as Batoclimab, and immediately generated tremendous sales.”

Vyvgart was approved for only one indication, myasthenia gravis (MG), but sold about 200 billion KRW in the fourth quarter of last year alone, and a total of 500 billion KRW in its first year of launch last year. This proves that the market for Anti-FcRn therapeutics, which can treat numerous indications, is much larger than expected. Therefore, the value of Immunovant, a major competitor of Argenx, is being highlighted.

Researcher Oh explained, “Generally, when a new drug succeeds, profits are distributed roughly in the ratio of 1 for the original developer (HanAll Biopharma), 1 for the intermediate developer (Immunovant), and 1 for the seller,” adding, “Therefore, HanAll Biopharma can expect economic benefits comparable to Immunovant from Batoclimab, and the stock prices of the two companies inevitably move similarly.”

Nevertheless, he emphasized that HanAll Biopharma’s market capitalization is still at about 900 billion KRW, which is judged to be very undervalued compared to Immunovant, making now a good opportunity to buy.

In addition, HanAll Biopharma is also approaching an important clinical results announcement event this year.

Researcher Oh said, “Harbour BioMed, the Chinese developer of Batoclimab, is scheduled to finally disclose the Phase 3 clinical trial results for Batoclimab in myasthenia gravis (MG) in the first quarter of this year,” and predicted, “If the results of the Chinese Phase 3 are excellent, expectations for Immunovant’s U.S. Phase 3 will increase, and the value of Batoclimab will rise significantly.”

He also said, “In the second half of the year, initial data from the Phase 2 clinical trial for Batoclimab’s additional indication, Graves’ disease (GD), is expected to be released,” adding, “Also, the results of the U.S. Phase 3-2 clinical trial for the dry eye treatment HL036 are scheduled to be announced around March to April this year.”