The market capitalization of PROTEINA, a big data corporations that analyzes protein-protein interactions, topped 1 trillion won.
PROTEINA's share price has surged in December. On the 2nd, it closed at 98,000 won, up 21.14% from the previous day. It then broke through the 100,000 won level on the 4th. The closing price on the 4th was 104,300 won, up 11.08% from the previous day, and the closing price on the 5th was 98,700 won, down about 5% from the previous day.
On July 29, the first day of listing, the stock was 17,550 won, and in just over four months it rose about 490%. The industry said the rise in the company's share price in recent days was driven by a report from Korea Investment & Securities. A report that focused on the company's technology value and growth potential aligned with expectations for success in AI-driven drug development and with the "KOSDAQ rescue measures."
There has not been any new news that would serve as a boost for the stock market. The company also explained the share price surge on the 2nd by saying, "We believe a report from Korea Investment & Securities drew market attention."
◇ High-speed analysis of the "protein interaction" key to drug development
PROTEINA is a company founded in Aug. 2015 at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) by Chief Executive Officer Yun Tae-young (professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University). The company's core technology can observe and quantify protein-protein interactions (PPI, Protein–Protein Interaction).
Proteins are responsible for biological functions such as signal transduction, immune responses, and gene regulation inside and outside cells. Receptor proteins on the cell surface receive signals and transmit them by interacting with intracellular proteins. When a normal PPI network is disrupted or altered, various diseases, including cancer, occur. Therefore, precise analysis of PPI is important to identify the causes of disease and to develop new treatments.
PROTEINA has commercialized the SPID (Single molecule Protein Interaction Detection) platform, which can analyze protein operating mechanisms at the single-molecule level. It consists of a PPI-dedicated analysis chip, a high-speed detection image processing device, and automated detection and analysis software. The company introduced "PPI Pathfinder," used at the stage of predicting the efficacy of drug candidates, and also developed and unveiled "PPI Landscape," which discovers and optimizes early-stage candidate substances from the outset.
Korea Investment & Securities said in a report, "PROTEINA's SPID platform allows three researchers to analyze 3,000 to 5,000 antibodies per week," adding, "This is the fastest pace in the world for discovering antibodies."
Researcher Wi Hae-ju analyzed in the report that it is "an overwhelmingly faster speed compared with peer corporations (industry competitors) Generate Biomedicines and Xaira Therapeutics."
Wi said, "Existing AI drug development corporations are composed of unvalidated, hypothetical AI algorithms and have low barriers to entry, but PROTEINA is differentiated in that it is a real-world data–generating corporations that distinguishes the true from the false among AI- and human-designed candidates in the shortest time."
Along with these positive assessments, investors in the market brought up again the selection for a national R&D project that the company disclosed last month. An industry-academia collaboration research team composed of PROTEINA, Samsung Bioepis, a subsidiary of Samsung Bioepis Holdings, and a Seoul National University research team will use SPID to verify AI-generated antibodies in the shortest time. The total project cost is 47 billion won. The goal of the project is "technology transfer or phase 1 clinical entry of at least one antibody biobetter within 2 years and 3 months (27 months)."
◇ Rival's AI-developed protein drug enters phase 3 first
Brokerages rated PROTEINA's antibody discovery speed and technology as overwhelming compared with competitors, but in terms of the development speed of AI-discovered protein drug candidates, rivals are further ahead.
U.S.-based Generate Biomedicines said on the 2nd that it plans to initiate a global phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of GB-0895, which is being developed as a long-acting asthma treatment.
The company has technology that shortens the drug development timeline by rapidly designing proteins with desired properties and functions through its proprietary AI platform "Chroma."
The company said this would be the world's first case of an AI-developed protein drug candidate entering phase 3. GB-0895 is designed to block TSLP, an epithelial cell–derived cytokine that causes airway inflammation in asthma.
Generally, new drug development takes about 10 years from preclinical through phase 1 to phase 3, but this candidate entered phase 3 in just four years. This was thanks to AI technology designing an ideal protein tailored to the target disease from the start, reducing trial and error in the preclinical and clinical research process.
From phase 1, the trial enrolled patients with moderate asthma, securing safety, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic data at once, and with these data, it was able to skip phase 2 through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) fast track. Generate Biomedicines is also conducting a phase 1 trial in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Samsung Bioepis and PROTEINA, through this national project, are currently at the stage of using AI to discover protein drug candidates. PROTEINA's in-house antibody therapy (biobetter) pipeline is at the preclinical stage.
◇ Research project outcomes are key for drug development
Some warn that the stock's sharp short-term rise also brings volatility risk. On Sept. 3, global asset manager J.P. Morgan Asset Management (Asia-Pacific division) disclosed that it had acquired more than 5% equity in PROTEINA for simple investment purposes, drawing attention from securities market investors, but two days after the disclosure, from the 5th to the 8th, it sold 246,029 shares (2.27%) of PROTEINA on the market, causing the share price to swing.
PROTEINA posted sales of 2.301 billion won last year, with an operating loss of 9.121 billion won and a net loss of 5.734 billion won. The company aims to turn profitable in 2027.
In the short term, the factor that will determine the company's valuation is the performance of the national project by the industry-academia collaboration team. Investors are also looking for outcomes such as joint development results with global big pharma and technology export (licensing out) of the in-house pipeline.
PROTEINA presented cooperation with global pharmaceutical companies, securing Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) lab certification in the United States, and overseas business expansion as key business strategies.
Some analysts say that given the nature of the business, if government or industry research budgets are cut due to a slowdown in economic conditions, there could be an impact on operations. Regarding this view, the company said, "New drug development projects take years, and depending on individual research tasks and clinical development stages, there is demand for analysis and optimization, so demand for PPI analysis and antibody discovery services is less affected by general consumer economic fluctuations."