On the 27th, shares of the pharmaceutical company HLB Group are showing a strong performance across the board. This is seen as a result of HLB's liver cancer drug "Livo-camrel combination therapy" being listed as a first-line treatment in the "Hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis/treatment guidelines (HCC: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up)" published by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
As of 9:40 a.m. on the same day, HLB is trading at 94,000 won, up 8,500 won (9.94%) compared to the previous trading day. HLB PAHRMA and HLB Life Science have also increased by 17.05% and 9.91%, respectively. HLB Therapeutics (8.82%), HLB bioStep (6.81%), and HLB Innovation (6.62%) are also performing strongly.
The guidelines published by the ESMO liver cancer committee provide information on cancer diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. Along with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, it serves as a reference for specialists applying to patient care.
However, caution is required in investing. HLB has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for new drug approval for the first-line treatment of liver cancer using the combination of Livoserenib and Camrelizumab. If approval is not granted, stock prices may drop again.
If FDA approval is received, it is expected to be the first FDA new drug approval for a domestically produced anticancer drug. However, in May of last year, Hanmi Pharmaceutical received a complete response letter (CRL) from the FDA, resulting in an unsuccessful approval. Consequently, HLB submitted a resubmission to the FDA in September last year after addressing the concerns. The FDA will decide on the new drug approval status for Livoserenib on March 20 (local time).