A 5-minute summary: The full story behind Samchundang Pharma's plunge and three checkpoints ahead
Samchundang Pharmaceutical, which had been on a steep rally in recent weeks, saw its stock price plunge, surrendering its status as a "hwangjejoo" — a stock priced above 1 million won — in just four trading days.
Samchundang Pharmaceutical was trading at 829,000 won on the Korea Exchange (KRX) on Thursday, down 355,000 won (29.98%) from the previous session. The stock opened at 1.16 million won but rapidly extended losses to hit the daily price floor. On a closing-price basis, the stock had crossed the 1 million won threshold on January 25, losing that status after just four trading days.
The sell-off is attributed to disappointment over the size of an exclusive deal with a U.S. partner announced the previous day, combined with profit-taking pressure after the stock's sharp run-up. Samchundang Pharmaceutical's share price had surged roughly fourfold in about three months this year, driven by expectations for its oral insulin platform and generic development of GLP-1-class obesity and diabetes treatments. Meanwhile, the company's full-year results — revenue of 231.8 billion won and operating profit of 8.5 billion won on a consolidated basis — look modest compared with a market capitalization approaching 20 trillion won.
The rankings among top KOSDAQ stocks by market capitalization are also in flux. Samchundang Pharmaceutical claimed the No. 1 spot on the KOSDAQ by market cap on January 20, but slid to as low as third during intraday trading. Samchundang Pharmaceutical's current market capitalization stands at 19.4462 trillion won, with second-ranked EcoPro BM (247540.KQ) at 19.3117 trillion won and third-ranked EcoPro (086520.KQ) at 19.3209 trillion won — gaps of merely around 100 billion won.
On Thursday, Samchundang Pharmaceutical also issued a public notice addressing circulating rumors about stock price manipulation and possible coordinated trading. "A blogger is compounding market confusion with groundless claims," the company said, adding that it would "file complaints for defamation and obstruction of business." Regarding the deal size, the company clarified that "actual revenue over the contract period projected by the partner is 15 trillion won, with Samchundang Pharmaceutical receiving 90% of net revenue from sales."
