[비즈한국] Samchundang Pharm000250, which had maintained a stance of total non-communication with the media and general shareholders, stood before the microphone after its stock price was cut in half. While it showed strong confidence in the global competitiveness and commercialization success of its oral drug delivery technology platform 'S-PASS', it failed to clearly address the suspicions raised by the market, likely only fueling further distrust.
The press conference held at Samchundang Pharm's headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 6th, was effectively the company's first event for the media, with over 100 reporters attending, reflecting high market interest.
Recently, Samchundang Pharm has experienced a literal roller-coaster ride in its stock price. On the 25th of last month, it surpassed Alteogen196170 and EcoPro086520 to take the top spot in KOSDAQ market capitalization. However, as doubts about the actual substance of its business were raised one after another, its stock price, which had reached 1,233,000 won during intraday trading on the 30th of last month, plummeted to 618,000 won on this day.
Immediately before the conference, CEO Jeon In-seok announced the sudden cancellation of the 250 billion won major shareholder stake sale (block deal) originally announced on the 24th of last month in an attempt at damage control, but the market continues to view the company with cold skepticism, labeling it a 'pump-and-dump' scheme.
The materials disclosed by CEO Jeon on this day were evaluated as insufficient to clearly resolve the lingering doubts. Samchundang Pharm had previously claimed that its oral semaglutide (the main ingredient in the obesity drug Wegovy) does not require large-scale, costly clinical trials, but only bioequivalence tests, which are relatively easier to verify as it is a generic drug. CEO Jeon displayed a document on a screen during the press conference, which he claimed was received from the US FDA, to emphasize that the company had received regulatory recognition.
However, when examining the disclosed materials, key identification numbers and the subsequent patent application number 'WO2025OOOOOO' were obscured. Furthermore, this document was not a final generic approval or a definitive confirmation from the FDA, but rather an administrative notice signifying the acceptance of a request for a 'Pre-ANDA Product Development Meeting'.
It was revealed that terms like 'generic' or 'SNAC-Free' mentioned in the document were not conclusions reached by the FDA, but parts of the package materials prepared and submitted by Samchundang Pharm itself for the meeting. This led to a question asking if they had indeed received confirmation from the FDA that they could follow the generic development procedure. In response, CEO Jeon gave an ambiguous answer, stating, "Because we submitted documentation containing data meeting the stringent USP (United States Pharmacopeia) guidelines, the US FDA acknowledged our generic development direction and accepted our request for a pre-meeting (Pre-ANDA)." When the same question was repeated, CEO Jeon retorted, "We are a company that has developed generic drugs multiple times over the past 10 years," and added, "We have received confirmation from the FDA regarding the generic development procedure."
The patent defensive capability, cited as the basis for a lopsided profit structure where the company takes 90% of revenue from its US partner, is also riddled with questions. With the original patent for S-PASS (WO2021029467), filed by Samchundang Pharm in 2019, effectively withdrawn due to a lack of inventive step, the company presented a Freedom to Operate (FTO) opinion received from an external patent law firm last March as its trump card. However, the industry consensus is that this only means it does not infringe on the patents of the original developer, Novo Nordisk, and cannot support the claim that it is an original patent.
The highlight—and the peak of the skepticism—of the day's press conference occurred during the Q&A session following CEO Jeon's explanation. It was not the CEO or an executive in charge of corporate planning who answered the sharp barrage of questions from the press, but an unidentified man. Despite repeated questions about who he was, the man refused to identify himself, and Samchundang Pharm was also reluctant to disclose it. This single act undermined the very purpose of the press conference: to communicate with the market and shareholders.
Investigation revealed that this individual is not an official executive of Samchundang Pharm, but Seok Sang-je, CEO of DiosPharma, a partner that worked with Samchundang Pharm on a 'non-invasive blood glucose meter' commercialization project in 2019. An absurd farce unfolded where an external partner CEO, rather than company management, dominated official remarks at a formal event meant to explain a global pipeline and patent strategy that would determine the company's multi-trillion won valuation.
Furthermore, the non-invasive blood glucose meter project, which Samchundang Pharm and DiosPharma planned to commercialize in 2020, has yet to produce any clear sales or results. Under these circumstances, CEO Seok's appearance only served to lower the credibility of the explanations provided.
Samchundang Pharm's first press conference, held in a rush due to its stock price halving, ended up being a self-defeating move that was worse than not holding it at all. The substance of the patents to be proven and information about partners were hidden under the guise of disclosure regulations and strategic secrecy, and key documents were redacted. On top of that, official remarks were handled by an outsider.
What the market wanted was not a blueprint wrapped in flowery rhetoric, but provable data and the reality of clear contracts. However, this press conference is expected to only further spread the market's suspicion that the company has 'no substance'.