Samsung Biologics (207940.KS) surged nearly 6% in premarket trading after U.S. biotech firm Moderna reported significant results for its personalized cancer vaccine in a Phase 3 trial. Growing expectations for the commercialization of cancer treatments using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology have also lifted investor sentiment toward Korean biotech stocks.
In premarket trading on Nextrade on the 20th, Samsung Biologics traded at 1.628 million won, up 84,000 won, or 5.44%, from the previous session. The gains were attributed to a wave of strength in biotech stocks that swept over from the U.S. market overnight.
Moderna shares soared 176.97% in a single day on the 19th, local time. The surge came after the personalized mRNA cancer vaccine that Moderna is jointly developing with U.S. drugmaker Merck met both its primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase 3 trial involving melanoma patients. Merck shares also jumped 12.60% in a single day. Cho Jae-woon, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said record buying flowed in on expectations for the success of the Moderna-Merck cancer vaccine trial. He added that the results pointed to the potential of mRNA technology to conquer cancer, driving a 3.52% surge in the healthcare sector.
The trial was conducted on patients with stage 2 to 4 melanoma whose cancer had been completely removed through surgery. The treatment combined Moderna's cancer vaccine with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda. As a result, it met both primary and secondary endpoints, including recurrence-free survival (RFS), the period during which patients survive without their cancer returning. The combination showed clinically meaningful improvement compared with the group treated with Keytruda alone. Analysts said the trial has heightened expectations that mRNA technology, which had stalled after the COVID-19 vaccine, could now expand in earnest into oncology.
In the Korean stock market, stocks tied to Moderna include Samsung Biologics, GC Biopharma, ST Pharm, Psomagen, Entutech and Pharmicell. Samsung Biologics in particular runs a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business serving global pharmaceutical and biotech companies, fueling expectations that an expanding drug development market could translate into more contract wins over the medium to long term.
