It may not have been a coincidence that Celltrion revised a press release about winning conditional approval for a Covid-19 home test kit on Monday when the nation lifted the 13-month ban on short-selling on the stock market.
Celltrion said it never intended the confusion, and it made just a simple mistake. However, a drugmaker could rarely be confused about which product obtained the license, industry watchers said. With the revised press release, the company is likely to face criticism that it misled investors.
At around 9 a.m. on Monday, Celltrion issued a press release saying it won the conditional regulatory nod for Celltrion DiaTrust Covid-19 Ag Home Test on Friday.
The company said that it would speed up the domestic supply to help the general public purchase the self-test kit.
The company also said that its subsidiary Celltrion Pharm and various other distributors would supply the test device.
After the release, news about Celltrion’s obtaining the conditional permit for the Covid-19 self-test kit flooded the media channels. As only two local firms, Humasis and SD Biosensor, had won the conditional approval for Covid-19 home test kits, Celltrion’s news drew much attention.
Investors could have thought that Celltrion’s product, which won the conditional nod, was an entirely different product from Humasis’s self-test kit, which obtained the conditional license on April 23.
However, the two test kits are the same.
Especially after the new Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon proposed introducing self-test kits at schools, Celltrion’s winning of the local license for the device and distribution plans were recognized as a growth momentum.
At around 5 p.m. on Monday, however, Celltrion published the second press release, noting that the conditional nod announced on Friday was the same one granted for Humasis’ self-test kit.
“The approval was not separately given to Celltrion on Friday, but the regulator allowed us to add a model name ‘DiaTrust Home Test’ to Humasis’ existing license and sell it in the local market,” Celltrion said on Monday.
In the second press release, Celltrion changed the content from “conditional approval for DiaTrust Home Test” to “adding a model name to DiaTrust Home Test.”
Celltrion reportedly added the model name of Humasis’ test device to distribute the product separately in Korea.
Celltrion said the revision resulted from a simple mistake, and the approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety was not a conditional nod for a new product but approval for adding a model name.
The press release changes are not expected to have a significant impact on the stock market, it added.
On Monday, when short selling was resumed, Celltrion’s shares fell 6.2 percent and closed at 249,000 won ($222). Celltrion Pharm shed 5.04 percent to 126,300 won, and Celltrion Healthcare, down 5.97 percent to 105,500 won.