SK Biopharmaceuticals (326030.KS) Chief Executive Lee Dong-hoon has bought another 1,000 of the company's shares, adding to a purchase made about two weeks earlier.
The move is seen as a signal of accountable management and confidence in long-term growth as the company expands a next-generation drug pipeline led by opakalim.
SK Biopharmaceuticals said on the 15th that Lee bought the 1,000 shares on the 11th at an average price of 78,800 won per share, for a total of about 79 million won.
Lee had also bought 2,000 shares on Aug. 27. With the latest purchase, he has acquired a combined 3,000 shares in about two weeks.
Yoo Chang-ho, head of the strategy division, also acquired an additional 500 shares on the same day at an average price of 79,087 won. Yoo bought 500 shares on Aug. 27 as well.
SK Biopharmaceuticals has been accelerating global development of opakalim (BHV-7000), a next-generation drug candidate. Last month it signed an exclusive license agreement for opakalim with U.S. biotech firm Biohaven, strengthening a growth driver to follow cenobamate.
Opakalim is a selective Kv7 potassium channel activator being developed as a treatment for partial-onset seizures in adults. If clinical trials and the approval process proceed as planned, SK Biopharmaceuticals aims to launch the drug in the U.S. market as early as 2029.
An SK Biopharmaceuticals official said the additional share purchases by senior executives were intended to demonstrate confidence in the company's long-term growth strategy and corporate value while putting accountable management into practice.
