KOSDAQ-listed Bioneer(064550) hit the upper price limit early in trading after reporting record quarterly sales in the second quarter and swinging to an operating profit, and then announcing results from hair-loss-related research.
At 9:44 a.m. on the 19th, Bioneer was trading on the KOSDAQ market at 9,190 won, up 2,120 won (29.99%) from the previous session.
Bioneer's consolidated sales for the second quarter of this year were about 96.1 billion won, up 8.9% from a year earlier. It was the largest ever on a quarterly basis. Cumulative sales for the first half were tallied at about 177.9 billion won.
Profitability also improved. The company posted an operating loss of about 500 million won in the first quarter of this year but returned to an operating profit in the second quarter. The company said the scale effect from higher sales, rather than expense cuts, led to improved profitability. It also continued research and development for new drugs, increasing related costs in the second quarter by about 1.4 billion won from the previous quarter.
On the same day, it also disclosed research results related to hair loss. Bioneer said that results from a human application test confirming the applicability of a follow-up technology to Cosmerna were published in the official journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, "JAAD (Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology)."
The study was conducted over 24 weeks with 72 participants with mild to moderate androgenetic alopecia. After applying a topical formulation targeting DKK1, both the low-dose and high-dose groups showed statistically significant improvements in hair density compared with the placebo group. It added that hair thickness also showed a more pronounced improvement in the high-dose group.
In particular, the improvement in hair thickness was not weakened even among participants with high cortisol levels, a biomarker related to stress response. Based on these results, Bioneer plans to consider commercialization of a Cosmerna follow-up product applying DKK1-targeting technology.
A Bioneer official said, "Based on the results of this study, we are actively considering commercialization of a Cosmerna follow-up product applying DKK1-targeting technology."