April 24, 2024

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“Two key pipeline drugs, which were highly expected to progress into the next stage of clinical studies and create additional revenue for Hanmi have been postponed,” HMC Investment Securities analyst Kang Yang-koo said.

In early December, Janssen Pharmaceuticals suspended participant recruitment for phase 1 clinical trials of JNJ- 64565111, also known as HM12525A, a biologic drug for the treatment of diabetes.

“The suspension of recruiting participants for the clinical trials means longer development period and long delay in receiving milestone payments,” Kang said.

Under a licensing partnership forged in 2015, Hanmi Pharmaceutical had received an upfront payment of 105 million won (US$90,000) from Janssen and is eligible to receive additional payments based on the drug’s development milestones and commercialization.

This was another setback for Hanmi as the start of phase 3 clinical trials of its long-acting diabetes treatment have been pushed back to 2017 from the fourth quarter this year.

The Korean drug maker signed a license deal with Sanofi for so-called GLP-1 diabetes treatments receive an upfront payment of US$434 million and also is eligible for up to US$3.7 billion in development, registration and sales milestones, as well as double-digit royalties on net sales.

Reflecting the unfavorable events, HMC Investment Securities cut the price target of Hanmi stock from 560,000 won to 400,000 won.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)