Orum Therapeutics Inc., of Boston and Daejeon, South Korea, is planning for an IPO on the Korea Exchange by the end of 2024, having passed a technology evaluation required for listing on the Kosdaq, a company spokesperson confirmed to BioWorld.
Immuneoncia Therapeutics Inc., a joint venture between South Korea’s Yuhan Corp. and San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics Inc., is looking to list on the Korea Exchange, having recently passed local technology evaluation.
Follow-on biologic makers in China have been working to capitalize on looming patent cliffs of blockbuster biologics. Advancing biosimilars of denosumab (Prolia/Xgeva; Amgen Inc.) and semaglutide are the latest examples.
Building D&D Pharmatech Inc. has been a rollercoaster ride, according to CEO Seulki Lee. The U.S. and Korea-based biotech is on another ascent, having scored U.S. FDA fast track designation for its metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) drug, ahead of its third attempt at a public listing.
“A biotech company cannot survive on ‘drug efficacy’ alone,” former Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF) CEO Hyunsong Muk said recently, “because novel drug development is not just a scientific problem.” Financial toxicity is, in fact, a major obstacle for biotech companies trying to advance preclinical candidates to early stage clinical trials, Muk said at Novo Nordisk A/S’ Partnering Day and Symposium on April 4 in Seoul, South Korea.
China’s Visen Pharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. is targeting an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange with three rare endocrine disease therapies licensed-in from Denmark’s Ascendis Pharma A/S, including U.S. FDA-approved Skytrofa (lonapegsomatropin).
China’s Pegbio Co. Ltd. is planning a Hong Kong IPO to advance PB-119, its main glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist for diabetes nearing domestic approval, as it hopes to transition to an operating profit.
Biopharma financings in 2023 – at $49.3 billion raised through the third quarter (Q3) – are tracking ahead of, or only slightly behind, several years since 2011, except for the two outlier years of 2020 and 2021 when there was a flurry of investments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Qyuns Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has filed to list on the Hong Kong Exchange to fund its autoimmune and allergic disease therapy pipeline, including lead assets QX-002N for ankylosing spondylitis and QX-005N for multiple indications including atopic dermatitis.
Cancer biotech Adlai Nortye Ltd. raised $57.5 million from its U.S. IPO on Nasdaq and $40 million from a concurrent private placement, ringing up $97.5 million in funding to develop its combo immunotherapy pipeline.