Genome Raises Funds…ViGenCell...Targeting China[K-Bio Pulse]

[Jiwan Kim, Edaily Reporter] On March 11, South Korea’s pharmaceutical and biotech sector saw share gains as investment inflows, licensing prospects, and business expansion strategies fueled investor sentiment.

Genome & Company secured large scale funding to expand its drug development pipeline. ViGenCell is exploring entry into the Chinese market with its key pipeline, while Pharmicell is strengthening CDMO and pharmaceutical raw material businesses alongside growth in advanced materials.

◇Genome & Company $30M Funding Boost

Genome & Company’s shares surged after the company announced new investments totaling 30 billion won ($22M). According to KG Zeroin’s MP Doctor data, the stock closed at 7,970 won, up 14.35% from the previous day.

The company raised the funds through 27 billion won in convertible bonds (CB) and 3 billion won in convertible preferred shares (CPS) from eight institutional investors, including Soosung Asset Management and Brain Asset Management.

On March 10, DongKoo Bio & Pharma also agreed to invest 1 billion won by subscribing to the company’s CB issuance, strengthening the strategic partnership.

Genome & Company plans to use the funds to develop antibody drug conjugate (ADC) therapies based on its genomic discovery platform Genocl.

Key pipeline candidates include GENA-120, targeting ITGB4 with a TOP1 inhibitor payload, and GENA-104, targeting CNTN4. The company has recently shifted its R&D strategy toward novel antibody targets and ADC development.

CEO Hong Yoo-seok said the company will pursue out-licensing opportunities for preclinical candidates.



◇ViGenCell Targeting China

ViGenCell is accelerating its entry into the Chinese market with its lead pipeline VT-EBV-N.

The company will attend BIOCHINA 2026 in Suzhou from March 12~14 to hold business meetings with global pharmaceutical companies and Chinese partners.

China represents a major opportunity because the patient population for NK/T-cell lymphoma is about 30 times larger than in Korea. When expanded to EBV-related cancers such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the addressable market could reach over 60,000 new cases annually.

In a randomized, double blind Phase 2 trial, VT-EBV-N demonstrated strong efficacy with a 2-year disease-free survival rate of 95%, compared with 77.58% in the control group.

The therapy targets Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and is designed as a platform that could expand to multiple EBV-related cancers.

Head of global business development Kim Sun young said the company is in discussions with several global and Chinese pharmaceutical companies based on the Phase 2 data.

◇Pharmicell Materials and Biopharma

Pharmicell is emerging as a supplier of low dielectric electronic materials used in AI servers and high speed network equipment.

The company reported record revenue of 114.1 billion won in 2024, up 75.8% year-on-year, with operating profit rising 637.5% to 34.3 billion won.

Much of the growth came from low dielectric materials supplied to Doosan Electronics, a key component used in copper clad laminates (CCL) for AI accelerators and telecom equipment.

Despite market concerns about potential competition, analysts say replacing PTFE based materials would be difficult due to strict reliability testing requirements.

Pharmicell is also expanding its biopharma CDMO services and RNA based pharmaceutical raw materials business.

A company official said the firm is developing new RNA-related materials in response to requests from global companies such as Merck and Thermo Fisher Scientific, noting that global supply chain diversification is increasing demand.