The stocks of three biotech companies that went public in the second half hit upper limit prices on Tuesday.
Icure Pharm, Olix Pharmaceuticals, and Union Korea Pharm, which were listed on KOSDAQ in July, saw their stock prices gaining 30 percent on Tuesday from the previous day.
Icure’s shares closed at 56,600 won ($50.3), up by 13,000 won from the previous day. Those of Olix closed at 73,000 won, up by 16,800 won, and Union Korea Pharm at 21,350 won, up by 4,900 won.
Retail investors’ transactions drove up their stock price hikes. They net-purchased 202,000 shares of Union Korea Pharm, 37,000 shares of Olix, and 72,000 shares of Icure.
Except for shares of Icure, those of Olix and Union Korea Pharm were hovering at 10 percent higher than their initial public offering prices, as of Tuesday.
Olix is a developer of RNA interference therapeutics.
The company’s major pipelines include treatment for hypertrophic scar (OLX101), a therapy for subretinal fibrosis and age-related macular degeneration (OLX301D), and treatment for dry form macular degeneration and age-related macular degeneration (OLX301A).
Union Korea Pharm’s shares were also 9.5 percent higher than those on the IPO day.
Established in 1985, the drug company posted 50.8 billion won sales, and 7.8 billion won operating profit last year.
Union Korea Pharm’s flagship drugs include antibiotics Kefodone Inj., vasodilator Limastar Tab., and gastric acid secretion inhibitor Newlanso Cap.
The company recently announced that it would build an additional plant in Wonju, Gangwon Province, as part of the expansion of contract manufacturing organization (CMO) business.
Icure manufactures patch products based on transdermal delivery technologies, drawing attention from investors.
Icure earns 45 percent of revenue from the pharmaceutical business and the rest from the cosmetics sector.
The company’s sales in transdermal absorbent products used for anti-inflammatory analgesics and dementia treatments reached 4.1 billion won in the first half. The total revenue amounted to 17.9 billion won during the period.