FAST NEWS: Kintor Pharma Soars on Good Results for Covid Drug

The latest: Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd. (9939.HK) on Wednesday announced positive results from a Phase 3 clinical trial for its drug Proxalutamide for the treatment of mild-to-moderate ambulatory Covid-19 patients, saying top-line data showed the drug was effective in reducing hospitalization and mortality rates, particularly in middle-aged and elderly people with high risk factors.

Looking up: The company said that throughout the trial, the incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events in the two groups of subjects was only 7.9% and 9.6%, most of which were mild reactions such as dizziness. It added that no serious adverse events occurred.

Take Note: The National Medical Products Administration of China has approved the import ofthenew oral Covid drug Paxlovid from Pfizer (PFE.US), which has been conditionally included on the National Reimbursement Drug List and is the lowest priced product in the world. Therefore, even if Proxalutamide is approved for sale in China, it will face competition from this strong rival.

Digging Deeper: After listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2020, Kintor Pharmaceutical said in December the same year that it had made progress on Proxalutamide for the treatment of Covid-19, spurring a buying frenzy that saw its shares rise more than tenfold to a high of HK$89 last September. However, the company said in last December that the progress report for the drug for treatment of ambulatory Covid-19 patients from its global multicenter clinical trial showed that interim analysis of the phase 3 clinical trial did not achieve statistical significance. Kintor said at the time it would seek consent from various regulatory agencies to revise its clinical trial protocol, which eventually yielded results from the latest clinical trial.

Market Reaction: Driven by the positive news, Kintor’s shares opened up 229% on Wednesday, triggering a market volatility control mechanism that gives the stock a 5-minute cooling-off period. It later gave back about one-third of that to close up 146% at HK$34.30 at the midday break, representing a high since December last year.

Translation by Jony Ho

To subscribe to Bamboo Works free weekly newsletter, click here