Hanmi Science dropped 7.23 percent to 53,900 won after climbing as high as 68,200 won earlier in the session. The stock had surged 13.94 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday to 66,200 won following news of the approval.
Hanmi Pharm fell 9.7 percent to 482,500 won, near its intraday low of 482,000 won, after reaching as high as 565,000 won.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved Hanmi Pharm's "EPPE," or efpeglenatide, on Wednesday. The once-weekly GLP-1 treatment is the first obesity drug in the class developed entirely by a Korean pharmaceutical company, according to Hanmi Pharm.
The company said it handled the drug's development from candidate discovery through clinical trials, manufacturing and commercialization. EPPE uses Hanmi's proprietary long-acting drug platform, LAPSCOVERY, and will be manufactured at its Pyeongtaek biopharmaceutical plant.
A 40-week interim Phase 3 analysis involving 448 Korean patients showed an average weight reduction of 9.75 percent. Nearly half of treated patients lost at least 10 percent of their body weight, while 19.86 percent lost at least 15 percent, the company said.
Efpeglenatide was licensed to Sanofi in 2015 before the rights were returned to Hanmi in 2020. Hanmi continued development on its own and is also seeking to expand the drug into diabetes treatment.
Hanmi is preparing to launch EPPE in Korea later this year. The company has not yet disclosed its final price.
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