Hanall Biopharma's stock price plunged by more than 7% on news of CLE clinical trial suspension

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Yuhyang Kim = Hanall Biopharma [009420] stock price is plummeting by more than 5% in the early trading on the 28th.

As of 9:33 am on the stock market on this day, Hanall Biopharma is trading at 43,300 won, down 7.08% from the previous price.

The stock price, which started down 9.55%, fell to 41,600 won (-10.73%) at one point in early trading.

Jeong I-soo, a researcher at IBK Investment & Securities, said, "Our partner, Immunovant, decided to suspend development for this indication in announcing the results of the cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) clinical trial using the substance 'Imeropruvat' on the 23rd."

Researcher Jeong said there is little room for this result to be interpreted as a failure of Aimeropruvat's mechanism itself, but that it was due to the fact that the effect was not sufficient to continue development.

Researcher Jeong lowered the target stock price from 73,000 won to 70,000 won, saying that CLE was excluded among the six indications in the new drug value. However, the investment opinion was maintained at 'buy', saying that the possibility of commercialization may increase if effectiveness is confirmed in clinical trials for other indications scheduled for next year.

Park Jong-hyeon, a researcher at Daol Investment & Securities, also lowered the target stock price from 70,000 won to 65,000 won.

Researcher Park explained, “The decline in pipeline value due to the discontinuation of the CLE clinical trial is limited, but the possibility of future indication expansion has decreased.”

Heo Hye-min, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, explained, “This is an unfortunate result given that CLE is a new indication,” but added, “The decision to suspend development is interpreted as a decision that took into account opportunity costs and competitive conditions, such as future large-scale clinical trials.”

He continued, “(This suspension of development) is a burden on short-term investment sentiment, but the damage to the value of the core new drug is limited.”