Sam Chun Dang Pharm withdrew its plan for a large stock sale by the largest shareholder and moved to explain questions over its technology and contracts, but the market's doubts do not appear to be fully resolved.
On the 7th in the morning, Sam Chun Dang Pharm shares were trading down about 10% from the previous day. The day before, Chief Executive Jeon In-seok of Sam Chun Dang Pharm held a press briefing at the company's headquarters in Seocho District, Seoul, to personally explain the recent controversy, but interpretations suggest the market's skepticism has not subsided.
Sam Chun Dang Pharm scrapped its plan for an after-hours block transaction worth 250 billion won. Jeon said, "It was for tax payment purposes, but rumors such as 'cashing out at the peak' and 'a scam' spread, and we abruptly canceled to eliminate the block deal itself, which was the basis of the rumors."
Jeon explained, "The taxes my spouse and I owe amount to about 233.5 billion won." Jeon said, "Protecting Sam Chun Dang Pharm's pride and shareholder value is tens of thousands of times more important than my personal taxes," adding, "Instead of a block deal, I will raise the taxes through a stock-collateral loan and other means."
◇ On the oral formulation technology: "security strategy vs. calls for substance"
However, many in the market still see a need for further verification and confirmation. In particular, the absence of publicly disclosed pharmacokinetics (PK) data—the key metric for judging the competitiveness of the company's oral formulation platform technology "S-Pass"—is cited as a major limitation.
The surge in the company's share price on the stock market was driven by expectations of "success in developing oral insulin" and "success in developing a generic of oral Wegovy (an obesity treatment)."
Protein-based insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) are easily broken down by gastric acid. That is why insulin and GLP-1 class obesity treatments were first developed as injections rather than as oral drugs.
Sam Chun Dang Pharm says "S-Pass" encapsulates the drug with a protective material to shield it from gastric acid and temporarily opens the paracellular pathway between cells to enable absorption in the small intestine. To prove the technology's real competitiveness, a PK graph showing how the drug concentration in blood changes after absorption is the most definitive evidence.
A generic must prove bioequivalence (BE) with the original drug to receive approval, and PK data are the key metric that determines whether it is approved.
PK data are usually made public when the "review results report" is published after item approval. In early development, it is also possible to keep some data undisclosed to avoid giving technical clues to competitors.
In particular, if, as Sam Chun Dang Pharm claims, the core technology is not a simple generic but an "oral absorption platform," the PK data themselves can be clues to infer the absorption mechanism, leading to interpretations that a certain level of nondisclosure strategy is inevitable.
Pharmaceutical industry officials said that at the "development and clinical application" stage, it is not illegal to keep key data undisclosed unless corporations voluntarily present them at academic conferences or elsewhere for marketing or to build trust.
However, given the exceptional situation of suspicions over the share price surge and a trust crisis for the corporations, there are evaluations that without minimum quantitative grounds, there are limits to resolving the controversy. On online investor communities, comments such as "Shouldn't they have presented some level of verifiable data?" are pouring in.
◇ Despite explanations on contracts and patents, "verification gap" pointed out... "We will communicate transparently"
Sam Chun Dang Pharm and CEO Jeon In-seok repeatedly stressed the substance of the technology. Jeon said, "We submitted official materials to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and were recognized as a generic," adding, "If the documents lacked substance or were illogical, the FDA would not even respond."
Jeon also said, "We filed a clinical application for oral insulin with the European Medicines Agency (EMA)," adding, "Filing a clinical application itself means the technology has reached a certain level of completeness."
Jeon disclosed part of the FDA discussion materials. The document specifies the S-PASS patent number along with the phrases "generic (ANDA)" and "SNAC-Free."
Jeon said, "Oral semaglutide (the ingredient in Wegovy) is recognized as a generic, so clinical trials are not required, and recognition can be obtained with only a bioequivalence test."
Regarding patents, Jeon said, "We completed an international patent (PCT) application for oral semaglutide and designed around the patent by not using SNAC (an absorption enhancer)," adding, "We also secured a review opinion that there is no patent infringement risk."
Jeon added, "Once a patent is registered, it becomes a target for attacks, so we are using a strategy of staggering the timing to match the product launch," stressing, "Nondisclosure is not to hide but a strategy to preempt the market."
On the 30th, Sam Chun Dang Pharm said it signed a license deal with its U.S. partner related to the generics of the oral diabetes drug "Rybelsus (semaglutide)" and the oral obesity treatment "Wegovy Oral."
The company said the deal secures $100 million (about 150.9 billion won) in milestones and that it will receive 90% of product sales revenue for 10 years. But as the U.S. partner is undisclosed and the revenue-sharing structure is unusual in Korea, some have raised doubts.
Jeon explained that the reason for not disclosing detailed information on the contract and patents was a "strategic choice to prevent exposure to competitors." On the contract structure, Jeon said, "Sam Chun Dang Pharm is a product supply company, not a technology exporter," adding, "Milestones are only part of the contract; the essence is revenue sharing based on future sales."
This briefing is meaningful in that Jeon personally stepped forward to actively explain. But with no quantitative evidence presented on the core issues, assessments said it fell short of dispelling the market's skepticism. Ultimately, whether market trust is restored depends on concrete performance indicators to be disclosed going forward.
Jeon also appeared mindful of this and presented a stance to prove it with future results.
Jeon said, "Rumors can shake the market for a moment, but corporations' earnings are the eternal truth," adding, "In the second half, we will prove it step by step with numbers and results through global contract outcomes and clinical results."
Jeon also emphasized, "The lack of communication with the market so far was my fault as CEO," adding, "We will communicate as transparently as possible within the scope that does not undermine strategic security."