Analysts said the Public Growth Fund could be a turning point for the KOSDAQ healthcare sector, which struggled in the first half of this year.
Kim Chung-hyun, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "In the first half, the KOSDAQ healthcare sector remained weak as the global rate environment and a tilt of funds toward the tech sector overlapped," and noted, "With a catalyst for reversal needed, investment execution by the Public Growth Fund will raise investor interest and serve as an opportunity to reexamine the fundamentals of corporations."
The Public Growth Fund is operated in two main ways. Track A involves direct investment and ultra-low-interest loans using the Advanced Strategic Industry Fund, with the Fund Management Deliberation Committee reviewing and voting on individual investments in a top-down structure. In contrast, Track B is an indirect investment method through citizen-participation sub-funds, with private asset management companies discovering investment targets in a bottom-up structure.
Mirae Asset Securities pointed to medical devices as the next investment area for Track A. Kim said, "Since a Track A precedent has been set in the bio and vaccine fields, the next investment target is highly likely to be the medical device sector."
As medical device corporations expected to benefit from the Public Growth Fund, it cited Next Biomedical, Seers, Curiosis, and i-SENS. Kim explained, "We selected the candidate pool focusing on corporations that have global competitiveness, were chosen for official projects by the pan-ministerial program office, and have clear funding needs."
In new drug development, it recommended Alteogen, ABL Bio, and Orum Therapeutics as corporations that have partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies, secured global clinical pipelines, and can expand follow-on pipelines based on platform technology.
In the CDMO field, it presented ST Pharm as a corporation that, based on partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies, produces commercialized products or phase 3 clinical products and has a high likelihood of winning additional orders.