NH Investment & Securities said on the 12th that the structural growth of the obesity drug market will continue into next year for Hanmi Pharmaceutical. It kept its "Buy" recommendation and raised the target price to 5.6 million won from 5.2 million won. Hanmi Pharmaceutical's closing price the previous day was 454,000 won.
Han Seung-yeon, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said, "Recently, the market capitalization of the global obesity bellwether Eli Lilly hit a record high of $900 billion," and noted, "Thanks to a third-quarter obesity earnings surprise and price-cut negotiations under the 'most favored nation (MFN)' drug pricing policy."
The analyst said it is worth watching the moves this year by partners Eli Lilly and MSD. In the fourth quarter, Lilly is awaiting the first phase 3 readout for retatrutide, a candidate with strong weight-loss efficacy, and partner MSD's phase 2b MASH data are also slated between the fourth quarter this year and the first quarter next year.
Depending on the readouts, there is additional large upside potential, the analyst judged. The analyst said, "Hanmi Pharmaceutical's obesity pipeline HM15275 (LA-TRIA) aims for data superior to retatrutide, so it could see its value highlighted on momentum," and pointed out, "The MASH pipelines (efinopegdutide and efocipegtrutide) also have room for upward reassessment depending on clinical results."
The analyst added, "Obesity retains the strongest momentum within the pharma-bio sector in the remaining fourth quarter," and presented Hanmi Pharmaceutical as the top pick in the pharmaceuticals industry group.