Sam Chun Dang Pharm has been clarifying the discussion with a Chinese pharmaceutical firm over licensing out a diabetic drug candidate repeatedly for a year. Attention is on whether the two will ink a final deal and when it will happen.

“We are discussing a deal with China’s Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceutical based on a draft agreement,” the Kosdaq-listed company said in a public filing on Tuesday. “We will file a disclosure again when related matters are confirmed specifically or within three months.”

In the latest disclosure, Sam Chung Dang Pharm said a human pilot study of oral insulin ended in Korea on April 15. Later, the company will get the final study report from a contract research organization (CRO).

The announcement aimed to clarify a local news report, released on May 3, 2021, titled, “Sam Chun Dang Pharm pushes to invest 200 billion won ($158.7 million) in oral insulin.” Since the news report, Sam Chung Dang Pharm filed clarifications seven times over a year.

Immediately after the news report, Sam Chun Dang Pharm said on May 4, 2021, that it signed a letter of intent (LOI) for strategic cooperation with a Chinese partner company in November 2020. Later, the Korean firm confirmed the name of the Chinese company, Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceutical.

Sam Chun Dang Pharm also said that it delivered a term sheet and toxicity test results to the Chinese firm through additional filings. As a result, it clinched a term sheet where the Chinese partner will cover all the costs for clinical trials and approve the oral insulin and GLP-1 analogs in China.

Sam Chun Dang Pharm said it signed an agreement with a clinical site and a CRO for a human pilot study and disclosed the status of its pipelines in development, too.

Repeated public disclosures indicate that Sam Chun Dang Pharm and Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceutical have been negotiating over the draft of the licensing deal since December 2021.

Because the talk dragged on for a year, shareholders of Sam Chun Dang Pharm are increasingly becoming unhappy about the uncertainty over whether the company will successfully sign a deal with the Chinese firm and when the deal will occur.

Another problem is that Sam Chun Dang Pharm released public filings about the licensing deal and other issues.

The company posted explanations on a local news report, which said in May last year that the company was discussing a 300 billion won investment with a multinational pharmaceutical company to develop the world’s first oral Covid-19 vaccine.

The company has made six filings over the issue until March this year, saying it was developing a Covid-19 vaccine with foreign partners and evaluating its efficacy in global clinical trials.

However, the company said it was still in negotiations with partner companies.

Repeated clarifications and disclosures could hurt Sam Chun Dang Pharm’s credibility. The company is reportedly working on SCD411, a biosimilar of Eylea, and conducting global phase 3 trials in Korea, the U.S., and Japan.

On Tuesday, the stock price of Sam Chung Dang Pharm fell 1.01 percent to 43,950 won.