Following this, GC Wellbeing saw its stock price rise after announcing the launch of an extracellular matrix (ECM) based skin booster, which has recently emerged as a major market trend. HLB Innovation also garnered investor attention following positive news regarding its chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy for blood cancer.
|
◇KoBioLabs Out Licenses to Celltrion... Hits Daily Limit
According to KG Zeroin MP Doctor (formerly Market Point), KoBioLabs' stock price reached the daily upper limit in the afternoon. The surge is analyzed to be driven by the company's 200 billion won technology export of three microbiome therapeutics to Celltrion.
On this day, KoBioLabs announced that it had out-licensed related patent technologies and its in-development microbiome therapeutics 'KC84', 'KBL382', and 'KBL385' to Celltrion. Through this agreement, Celltrion secured exclusive global clinical development and commercialization rights for the candidate substances across all bowel disease indications, including diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D).
The total deal size is 205.2 billion won. This represents 417% of KoBioLabs' estimated consolidated equity of 49.3 billion won for 2025, marking the company's largest technology export to date. Celltrion will pay an upfront fee of 1 billion won, with milestone payments of up to 7.2 billion won during the development phase and up to 13 billion won at the approval stage.
If the candidates are successfully commercialized and reach a certain net sales threshold, commercialization milestones of up to 184 billion won will be paid.
Since 2022, KoBioLabs and Celltrion have closely conducted joint research targeting the IBS-D indication for three years, verifying the therapeutic efficacy of the candidates for bowel diseases from multiple angles. Both companies continued their collaboration even after the initial agreement expired, ultimately leading to this new contract.
Celltrion plans to focus on efficacy verification in the early clinical stages and initiate proof-of-concept (PoC) for the new drug development within this year. Microbiome therapeutics, based on microbes within the human body, are known to demonstrate relatively high safety profiles.
KoBioLabs will leverage Celltrion's global clinical capabilities and direct sales infrastructure. For Celltrion, a win win contract is expected as it anticipates synergies with its existing bowel disease treatments such as Remsima, Remsima SC, Yuflyma and Steqeyma through the newly introduced substances.
KoBioLabs plans to invest the secured funds into developing follow-on pipelines. Notably, as KoBioLabs and Celltrion have previously collaborated on joint research for atopic dermatitis, additional technology export contracts are anticipated.
A KoBioLabs representative stated, "Signing a contract with Celltrion, a global biopharmaceutical company, is highly significant. We will ensure that the research achievements of our microbiome new drugs are validated in the market, leading to the enhancement of shareholder value."
◇GC Wellbeing Enters the ECM Skin Booster Market
GC Wellbeing's stock closed at 14,680 won, up 19.16% from the previous trading day. The stock price increase on this day is analyzed to be driven by the news of its entry into the ECM skin booster business. GC Wellbeing announced that it would fully expand its medical aesthetics business by launching the human tissue-based ECM skin booster 'Giselle Reborn' in the domestic market.
Recently, the aesthetics market has shifted from simple volume enhancement or moisturizing treatments to methods that regenerate the skin tissue itself and restore its structural integrity. ECM-based skin boosters represent this trend, with domestic companies like L&C Bio and Hans Biomed preemptively dominating the market.
While existing hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers and polynucleotide (PN) skin boosters induce collagen production to promote skin regeneration, ECM skin boosters differ in that they directly restore the tissue structure.
The human tissue processing for the production of Giselle Reborn will be handled by MS Bio, a company specializing in human tissue and biomaterials. GC Wellbeing will oversee the raw material management and supply system based on its distribution tissue bank within its Eumseong plant in North Chungcheong Province.
According to GC Wellbeing, MS Bio possesses technology that applies a decellularization process to remove cells and immune response-inducing factors within the tissue, thereby increasing biocompatibility and minimizing the possibility of immune rejection and inflammation.
A GC Wellbeing representative said, "With the launch of Giselle Reborn, we expect to further solidify our position in the aesthetics market. We will be reborn as a medical aesthetics integrated platform company based on a product portfolio that encompasses the placenta injection 'Laennec,' fillers, skin boosters, and the botulinum toxin 'Inibo'."
◇HLB Innovation Rises on CAR-T Therapy Expectations
HLB Innovation's stock price recorded 5,390 won, a 19.25% increase from the previous day. HLB Innovation has shown steady growth since the beginning of this year, with particularly steep growth in March. Looking at the stock price, it has surged 163% from January to this day, and increased by approximately 103% this month alone.
The rise in HLB Innovation's stock is attributed to expectations surrounding the clinical performance of 'SynKIR-310', a CAR-T therapy for blood cancer being developed by its U.S. subsidiary, Verismo Therapeutics.
Verismo is currently conducting a U.S. multi-center Phase 1 clinical trial administering SynKIR-310 to patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). Verismo recently unveiled the preclinical research results of SynKIR-310 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
According to the published abstract, in an animal model (NSG mice) implanted with human-derived lymphoma cells, SynKIR-310 demonstrated superior anti-tumor efficacy compared to existing CD28-based CAR-T and 4-1BB-based CAR-T therapies, and was the only one among the comparison groups to record a 100% survival rate.
Furthermore in the cytokine analysis, while SynKIR-310 and 4-1BB-based CAR-T maintained stable levels the CD28-based CAR-T showed an excessive increase in cytokines in both the early and late stages.
An HLB Innovation official stated, "The preclinical results of SynKIR-310 were included in the plenary session which is considered the most important among the pipelines presented orally at AACR.
Since it was previously only known that its structure differs from existing CAR-T therapies, expectations seem high because this is data that can definitively confirm its actual safety and efficacy."
Copyright ⓒ 이데일리 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지
본 콘텐츠는 뉴스픽 파트너스에서 공유된 콘텐츠입니다.
다음 내용이 궁금하다면?
광고 보고 계속 읽기
원치 않을 경우 뒤로가기를 눌러주세요
