Helixmith, Genome & Company Surge on Royalty [K-bio pulse]

[Seungkwon Kim, Edaily Reporter] Korean pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare stocks tied to drug commercialization and licensing prospects rallied on Sept. 30.

Helixmith rose nearly 20% on expectations of royalties from its Chinese partner's gene therapy launch. Genome & Company posted a double-digit gain as licensing hopes built ahead of a global antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) conference next month. SG Healthcare climbed 13% after securing exclusive Korean rights from a Chinese particle therapy company. All three stocks had fallen sharply over the past year.

◇Helixmith, China launch of Sedomingji brings royalties into view



Helixmith closed up 18.85% (605 won) at 3,815 won, according to KG Zeroin, after touching 4,170 won intraday.

The stock has been volatile over the past year. It traded in the 8,000-won range this spring on expectations of Chinese approval, with a 52-week high of 9,960 won. After approval came in May, however, profit-taking and doubts over early market entry pushed it down to the 2,700-won range.

Tuesday's rebound reflected renewed hopes of real royalty cash flow as Chinese partner Northland Biotech commercializes Sedomingji Injection (NL003), a treatment for critical limb ischemia. Based on Helixmith's gene therapy Engensis (VM202), it won approval from China's National Medical Products Administration in May as the country's first plasmid DNA-based gene therapy. Northland officially announced the commercial launch at the China Cell and Gene Therapy Conference (CSGCT 2026) in Beijing this month.

The launch comes 22 years after the 2004 technology transfer. Helixmith will receive the higher of 7% of net sales or 4% of gross sales annually for seven years after launch. Its finances have also improved: after Bio Solution became the largest shareholder in late 2023, restructuring cut its net loss from 64.1 billion won in 2023 to about 300 million won last year, and it holds about 80 billion won in cash and equivalents.

The key is market uptake in China. Northland's shares plunged 25% on the day of approval amid concerns over self-pay sales and hospital access. An industry source said whether the approval is reflected in corporate value depends on insurance listing, prescription expansion and early sales. Northland is pursuing inclusion on China's national reimbursement drug list.

A Helixmith official said the company plans "to pursue technology transfers, co-development and strategic alliances in global markets beyond China."

Genome & Company

◇Genome & Company, targeting licensing deals ahead of World ADC



Genome & Company rose 13.59% (610 won) to 5,100 won, extending a rally that included a 14% jump on Sept. 23. The stock is up nearly 50% from the mid-3,000-won range early this month, though still about half its 52-week high of 10,180 won.

The catalyst is its participation in World ADC, an ADC conference in San Diego on Oct. 12–15. The company will present key data on novel-target ADC candidates discovered through its in-house platform GNOCLE and hold licensing talks with multiple potential partners.

Its edge lies in novel targets. While existing ADCs largely focus on HER2 or TROP2, Genome & Company is developing GENA-104 ADC targeting contactin-4 (CNTN4) and GENA-120 targeting integrin β4 (ITGB4). GENA-120 carries eight payloads per antibody (DAR 8), compared with DAR 4 for China's CStone CS5006, a competing ITGB4 candidate.



◇SG Healthcare, exclusive Korean rights to CASHIM's triple-ion therapy system



SG Healthcare rose about 13% to 2,305 won, breaking out of the 1,900-won range where it had moved sideways until mid-month.

The direct driver is its entry into particle therapy, a market with high barriers to entry. The company announced Sept. 29 that it had signed an exclusive domestic supply and strategic partnership agreement with Chinese particle therapy firm CASHIM the previous day. SG Healthcare will handle business development, installation support, training and maintenance for hospitals in Korea.

CASHIM's HiTS 200 delivers three types of particle beams — protons, helium ions and carbon ions — from a single accelerator platform. Designed for about 1,500 square meters, it can be built in a smaller space than conventional particle therapy centers, which require large sites and heavy facility investment.

CASHIM builds on heavy-ion accelerator research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Modern Physics and received Chinese approval for its medical heavy-ion accelerator in 2019. Five of its systems are operating in China, with nine more scheduled by 2031.

"This contract is an important starting point for bringing next-generation particle therapy technology to Korean medical settings," said SG Healthcare CEO Kim Jeong-su. He added that the company would go beyond equipment supply to provide integrated solutions optimized for Korea and expand into a next-generation cancer treatment platform through convergence with AI.