OBI Pharma bet everything on one cancer drug — then a scandal gutted the stock

OBI Pharma was founded in 2002 as a subsidiary of Optimer Pharmaceuticals and listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 4174) in 2012. Its entire value rested on OBI-822 (Adagloxad Simolenin), a Globo H-targeting immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer. The company was a flagship of Taiwan's biotech ambitions, and its stock traded above NT$600 per share in early 2016.

On March 23, 2016, the scandal broke. Wong Chi-Huey, the president of Taiwan's Academia Sinica and a scientific contributor to OBI-822, was accused of insider trading because his adult daughter held OBI shares. The chairman, Chang Nien-Tzu, was arrested and released on NT$1M bail. Wong resigned by phone on March 28, then in writing on March 29; his resignation was accepted on May 10. The company's stock collapsed from over NT$600 to around NT$25 — a loss of roughly 95% of market value.

In January 2017, prosecutors indicted both Wong and Chang under the Securities Exchange Act. The case went to trial. On December 28, 2018, the Shilin District Court acquitted both defendants, finding no evidence of insider trading. Prosecutors declined to appeal on January 21, 2019, making the acquittal final. The Control Yuan's separate impeachment proceedings — which began with a finding of false property declarations and conflict of interest in 2017 — also concluded in 2021 that Wong had committed no violation.

The company survived but never recovered its valuation. Its single-drug bet had failed twice: first on the science (OBI-822's clinical results were disappointing), then on the legal overhang that destroyed investor confidence. By 2024, the stock traded at a fraction of its 2016 peak, and the company had become a cautionary tale about the risks of concentrated biotech bets in a small market.