With interest rates entering a cutting cycle and patents at global big pharmaceutical companies (Big Pharma) expiring, the pharmaceutical-bio initial public offering (IPO) market is starting to breathe again this year.
As corporations that postponed listings last year due to stock market volatility and weakened investor sentiment are trying again on improved market conditions, heavyweight bio corporations are also moving in earnest to prepare for listings.
According to the pharmaceutical-bio industry on the 12th, corporations such as Adel, NEXTGEN Bioscience Inc., Kanaph Therapeutics, and Recens Medical are set to enter the KOSDAQ market within the first quarter. Many of these corporations had delayed listings in the past due to failing technology evaluations or worsening market conditions, and are now making another run at IPOs this year on expectations of rate cuts and rising demand for technology.
Among them, Adel, a bio corporation developing new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, is cited as a leading heavyweight IPO candidate this year. Adel is a bio corporation spun off in 2016 from Ulsan College of Medicine at Asan Medical Center in Seoul.
At the end of last year, Adel drew industry attention by out-licensing its Alzheimer's disease treatment candidate "ADEL-Y01" to France's Sanofi in a deal worth about 1.5 trillion won. ADEL-Y01 has received investigational new drug (IND) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is conducting a multinational phase 1 clinical trial. Adel carried out the entire process from candidate discovery through preclinical research on its own platform, and since 2020 has continued joint research and development with Oscotec.
Adel did not meet listing requirements last year after receiving BBB·BBB grades in the technology evaluation, but it revalidated its technological competitiveness with achievements such as the large-scale out-licensing deal with Sanofi. Buoyed by this, Adel plans to make another run at an IPO this year. It will soon begin a new technology evaluation.
SK Plasma, which is based on the blood product business, is also mentioned as a heavyweight listing candidate. SK Plasma moved to select IPO underwriters last year but halted the process; it now plans to resume an IPO this year.
NEXTGEN Bioscience Inc. is a new drug development corporation focused on therapies for autoimmune and fibrotic diseases. Based on its proprietary new drug development platform "Fi-Brain," it is developing multiple pipelines, including for alopecia areata, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and wet age-related macular degeneration. Recently, it signed a memorandum of understanding with SK Chemicals to discover new drug programs and conduct joint research and development (R&D), and it submitted its preliminary listing review application last month.
Kanaph Therapeutics, which is aiming to be the first to debut on KOSDAQ this year, is also drawing attention. Kanaph Therapeutics entered the offering process by submitting a securities registration statement to the Financial Services Commission on the 6th. It is developing bispecific antibody-based immuno-oncology drugs and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies, and it has signed joint research and development and technology transfer agreements with domestic pharmaceutical companies including Lotte Biologics, GC Biopharma, Dong-A ST, and Yuhan Corp.
ADC platform corporation Pinotbio also plans to apply for a technology evaluation in the first half of this year. Pinotbio is making another IPO attempt roughly two years after voluntarily withdrawing its plan to list in January 2024. It has completed preclinical studies of an ADC drug candidate with Celltrion and is preparing to enter pivotal trials.
The industry expects the pharmaceutical-bio IPO market to improve this year compared with last year. While there were quite a few cases last year of lowering offer prices due to market volatility and weak investor sentiment, analysts say uncertainty has eased somewhat this year as the market enters a rate-cut cycle and tariff issues under the U.S. Trump administration have been settled for now. In addition, as patent expirations at global pharmaceutical companies accelerate, this is aligning with structural changes across the pharmaceutical-bio industry.
Lee Hee-young, a researcher at Daishin Securities Co., said, "Patents on 69 global blockbuster drugs are set to expire by 2030, and as a result Big Pharma faces a sales gap of about $256 billion (373 trillion won)," adding, "Expanding external technology in-licensing and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) demand is an unavoidable structure for expense efficiency and securing new pipelines."
Lee Seung-gyu, vice chair at the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, said, "Last year, activity was largely constrained by external factors, but this year, with expectations of rate cuts, corporations with technological competitiveness are likely to make renewed listing attempts," adding, "Patent expirations among global Big Pharma are also a backdrop increasing demand for new drug technologies."