Vivozon Pharm also drew investor attention as its affiliate, Vivozon, confirmed the efficacy of a non-narcotic painkiller candidate.
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◇Lemon Healthcare surges then plunges, closing 6% below IPO price
According to KG Zeroin's MP DOCTOR (formerly MarketPoint), Lemon Healthcare shares reached 20,300 won shortly after the market opened, up more than 100% from its initial public offering price of 10,000 won. However, the stock gave up all its gains in the afternoon, closing its first day of trading at 9,400 won, down 6% from the IPO price.
During its retail subscription held June 24-25, Lemon Healthcare drew high interest with a competition ratio of 1,511-to-1. Earlier, 2,233 institutions participated in the book-building process from June 15-19, recording a 1,238-to-1 ratio. The final IPO price was set at the top of the targeted band of 7,500 won to 10,000 won.
Lemon Healthcare is a tech company operating a "two-way medical data relay platform" that connects hospitals, patients, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical firms in real time. Founded in 2017, it has built smart hospital and subscription-based services centered on domestic tertiary hospitals.
The company's core technology is the Lemon Digital Bridge (LDB), which standardizes disparate data from different hospitals into a proprietary format. Its major business lines include the smart hospital relay platform LDB-H, the medical data-based platform LDB-E, and the customized healthcare platform LDB-D.
LDB-H is the nation's leading smart hospital service for medical staff, having signed contracts with 38 of the 47 major tertiary hospitals in South Korea. Key clients include top-tier institutions such as Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital.
LDB-E is a service for claiming indemnity insurance based on medical data, boasting 1.9 million cumulative subscribers and 10 million cumulative claims. LDB-D is a medical data eco-relay platform that establishes an environment where diagnostic and prescription data scattered across various medical institutions can be safely exchanged and linked within a single system.
Lemon Healthcare plans to use the funds secured through its listing to build an infrastructure for distributing and trading medical data for AI learning, upgrade existing services, develop new ones, and boost marketing and brand awareness.
"The funds secured through this listing will be used to build a marketplace for trading medical data for AI learning in the future," a Lemon Healthcare official said.
◇PeopleBio expects synergy from new ventures and existing business normalization
Shares of PeopleBio closed at 918 won, up 17.54% from the previous trading day. The stock's rise is attributed to expectations surrounding the materialization of new businesses and the normalization of its existing operations.
According to a regulatory filing, PeopleBio plans to hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on July 20 to vote on changing its corporate name to TimeX AI, executing a 2-for-1 reverse stock split, and using 79.2 billion won in capital surplus to offset its deficit.
By eliminating most of its accumulated deficit, the company intends to strengthen its financial soundness and lay the groundwork for future shareholder returns, including dividends. In particular, the name change to TimeX AI signals a full-fledged shift toward an AI-centric business structure.
PeopleBio is promoting AI data center infrastructure and servers, semiconductors, and biotechnology as its primary business sectors.
Demand for AI infrastructure is expected to explode as domestic semiconductor companies recently announced plans to build intelligent factories with AI internalized in all processes and to construct large-scale data center infrastructure. In the semiconductor sector, Cistar—a joint business partner for refurbished equipment—is in multiple discussions regarding the purchase and delivery of used 200-millimeter wafer equipment scheduled to be supplied to a mid-sized domestic foundry. The company is preparing to recognize revenue in the second half of the year.
The normalization of existing businesses is also anticipated. PeopleBio will participate in the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2026 in London from July 12 to 15. The AAIC is the largest academic conference related to dementia, gathering researchers from around the world.
PeopleBio will give a poster presentation on the results of its advanced Parkinson's disease blood diagnostic technology. The study features an analysis of immune proteins that change during the aggregation process, in addition to its existing alpha-synuclein blood diagnostic technology.
The company also visited the United States to review preparations for responding to the FDA's Breakthrough Device designation, for which it has already completed its application. PeopleBio is putting all its efforts into passing the review by August.
"With the extraordinary shareholders' meeting on July 20 as a turning point, we are in full swing to improve our fundamentals as an AI infrastructure enterprise," a PeopleBio official said. "We will expand our new growth foundation through tangible achievements in our three major businesses.“
◇Vivozon confirms VVZ-2471 potential in Phase 2 trial
Vivozon Pharm shares closed at 2,905 won, up 15.74% from the previous day. The surge was driven by news that its affiliate, Vivozon, saw positive efficacy results for its oral non-narcotic painkiller candidate in clinical trials.
Vivozon announced the same day that it confirmed pain-relieving efficacy trends, primarily in the high-dose group, during a Phase 2 clinical trial of its oral non-narcotic painkiller candidate VVZ-2471.
VVZ-2471 is an oral non-narcotic painkiller candidate derived from the multi-target drug discovery platform technology used to discover the non-narcotic painkiller Anafra. It features a dual mechanism of action that simultaneously modulates the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) and the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2A). It is a candidate biologically and chemically derived from Anafra, which has already proven its analgesic efficacy.
The trial was an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 study designed to evaluate the analgesic efficacy and safety of VVZ-2471 in patients with post-herpetic neuralgia. Participants were assigned to a 150-milligram group, a 100-milligram group, or a placebo group, and took the medication twice daily. The primary endpoint was the change in pain intensity at the fourth week of administration compared to the pre-administration baseline.
According to the study, the high-dose group showed a continuous decrease in pain intensity from the first to the fourth week of administration. The proportion of patients in the high-dose group who achieved a pain reduction of 40% or more from the baseline after four weeks was 32%, more than double the 15% seen in the placebo group. This is interpreted as an exploratory signal in a range similar to the response rate increase reported in an eight-week clinical trial of pregabalin, a standard treatment for post-herpetic neuralgia, administered at 300 milligrams per day.
Furthermore, no major safety concerns were identified, indicating good safety and tolerability for VVZ-2471. Adverse events observed during the four-week repeated administration were mild dizziness or nausea, similar to the patterns confirmed in Phase 1 trials.
"Assuming a typical Phase 3 confirmatory trial size of more than 150 patients per group, the high-dose group is expected to reach statistical significance," a Vivozon official said. "We will develop VVZ-2471 as a next-generation oral new drug candidate targeting chronic neuropathic pain, including post-herpetic neuralgia, as well as the drug addiction treatment sector."
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