Peptron's shares fell more than 27% in early trading after the company announced it had ended its technology evaluation process with global pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly without a commercialization contract.
As of 9:36 a.m. on October 8, Peptron's stock was trading at 94,200 won, down 36,400 won (27.87%) from the previous trading day. The stock had already dropped 25.80% in after-hours trading the day before.
Peptron disclosed on its website that the evaluation period for its long-acting drug delivery platform, SmartDepot, with Eli Lilly concluded on October 7. The lack of a follow-up commercialization contract announcement at the end of the evaluation led the market to interpret that the main contract had effectively fallen through.
Peptron had entered into a technology evaluation agreement (MTA) with Eli Lilly in October 2024 and had been conducting joint research. This non-exclusive evaluation contract aimed to apply Peptron's SmartDepot platform to Eli Lilly's peptide drugs, and the market had anticipated that the evaluation would lead to a licensing agreement or joint development.
However, Peptron stated that the conclusion of the technology evaluation should not be interpreted as the end of potential commercialization collaboration. The company explained, "The end of the evaluation period signifies the completion of the joint research and evaluation process under the contract, and it does not mean the end of future collaboration possibilities between the two companies."
It added, "We take seriously the fact that we could not announce a follow-up commercialization contract at the end of the evaluation period, but we cannot disclose specific details about the nature and timing of future collaborations at this time."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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