Korea Investment & Securities noted that Kolon TissueGene has great future value for the osteoarthritis treatment TG-C, formerly known as Invossa, and it expects this to be approved as the world's first disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug (DMOAD). It initiated coverage with a 'buy' recommendation and a target price of 100,000 won. Kolon TissueGene's closing price the previous day was 48,000 won.
Korea Investment & Securities explained that the significant future value of TG-C is due to the fact that it is an irreversible disease with a large number of patients, and that there are no approved treatments or potential competing pipelines.
A researcher at Korea Investment & Securities said, "In the United States, at least 19% of adults over 45 years old suffer from knee osteoarthritis (OA), and due to the nature of the disease, once cartilage is damaged, it does not recover, which inevitably leads to deterioration. TG-C, among more than 11 pipelines in late-stage clinical trials, is the only one to secure positive clinical results."
Korea Investment & Securities projected that TG-C will obtain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval as a treatment for knee OA in 2028 and will expand to a DMOAD in 2032.
Additionally, TG-C has already achieved the clinical phase 3 target indicators of pain reduction and joint function improvement, making the likelihood of approval as a treatment for OA very high.
The researcher stated, "To expand to a DMOAD, it is critical to demonstrate the cartilage regeneration effect of TG-C, and favorable analytical methods to reveal this effect can be applied, along with expanding the number of patients and extending the observation period to increase the chances of success." They also noted that the long-term follow-up clinical results, scheduled for release at the end of April, are expected to heighten anticipation for OA DMOAD approval.