Kolon Life Science’s shares plummeted by 15 percent on Wednesday from the previous day, apparently hurt by a Japanese firm’s notice that it would rescind the technology import deal of Invossa, a cell-mediated gene therapy for osteoarthritis.

Compared to a 3 percent increase on the news of the tech export deal, the 15 percent fall was deemed a big plunge.

Analysts attributed the sudden drop of the stock price to investors’ fear against the negative issue.

“When positive issues came out, investors enjoyed some profits after selling them and pulled out. This made the stock increase quite limited,” an analyst said.

“But the latest issue of canceling the tech export deal seemed to have prompted fear, making many investors to pull out.”

The stock price of Kolon Life Science once tanked by 20 percent to as low as 119,000 won ($110.67) but closed at 126,500 won on Wednesday.

Foreigners net-sold 8,358 shares of the biotech firm and institutional investors also net-sold 144,564 shares. Individual investors net-purchased 148,418 shares.

“Investors had great expectation for the 500 billion won worth tech export. But if you look at the 27.3 billion won contract money that Mitsubishi Tanabe is requesting, the figure is not that big,” the analyst said.

“However, foreigners and institutional investors cut their investment to reduce risks.”

Individual investors net-purchased Kolon Life Science’s stocks because the number of new individual investors increased, the analyst added.

“There must have been many investors who targeted short-term profits,” he said.

The analyst forecast that Kolon Life Science’s shares would suffer a short-term shock but soon to rebound in the mid- and long-term because the latest issue was not very critical.

Shares of TissueGene, the developer of Invossa and a subsidiary of Kolon Life Science, also declined by 13.4 percent to 43,650 won on Wednesday from 50,400 won the previous day.

In stark contrast, HanAll Biopharma, which announced that it signed a technology export deal with a U.S. firm for its drug candidate HL161BKN to treat autoimmune diseases, saw its shares surging by a daily maximum to 20,150 won, rising up from 15,500 won the previous day.

Under the agreement with Roivant Science, HanAll has transferred the technology for HL161BKN, currently under a phase-1 clinical trial. The Korean firm will receive 544,4 billion won in fixed royalty, 21.6 billion won in research funds, and 490 billion won in stage-by-stage technological fees. The contract fee was 32.5 billion won.

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