As the identity of the counterparty to Curacle's 1.6 trillion won technology export deal, long shrouded in secrecy, has come to light, expectations are rising for a revaluation of the company's value. That's because it has been confirmed that core players in the U.S. and European biotech investment industry participated as investors in U.S.-based Memento Medicines, which in-licensed Curacle's retinal disease drug candidate, including Sanofi Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of France's Sanofi.
According to the industry on the 22nd, global key investment institutions have joined Memento, a NewCo (newly established company) to which Curacle transferred the technology for the retinal disease candidate "MT-103," including Sanofi Ventures, U.S.-based RA Capital, and Europe's Forbion. The board is also composed of figures from global biotech investment institutions such as Sanofi Ventures, RA Capital, Forbion, and Avago.
Curacle signed a technology transfer agreement with Memento in May for the global development and commercialization of MT-103. The total deal value is up to 1.6 trillion won. Although the candidate is still in the preclinical stage, Curacle secured a 11.6 billion won upfront payment, successfully closing a large technology export. Of this, Curacle received 4.7 billion won in cash and also obtained 1.1 billion won worth of Memento equity.
Typically, multitrillion-won technology exports are often concluded with global pharmaceutical companies or biotechs with extensive clinical development experience. In contrast, Memento is a NewCo founded on Curacle's technology, with limited public information, fueling market curiosity. As a result, the market's reaction was more subdued than expected relative to the deal size. However, as it emerged that top-tier global investment institutions participated en masse, sentiment in the market is shifting.
A NewCo is a model in which a separate company is established around specific technology or an asset, then raises investment to pursue new drug development and commercialization. U.S. Moderna is also cited as a representative NewCo case established and incubated by the venture creation firm Flagship Pioneering.
RA Capital and Forbion already have a track record of investing in NewCos based on domestic biotech asset. The two investors previously participated as major backers of Navigator Medicines, which in 2024 in-licensed a candidate from IMBiologics. Navigator Medicines is also a NewCo established on a Korean biotech pipeline.
In particular, the industry is paying attention to the participation of Sanofi Ventures. Because Sanofi Ventures often makes investments with strategic aims rather than purely financial ones, this is interpreted as a signal suggesting the possibility of future co-development with Sanofi or additional technology transfers.
In the industry, the disclosure of these investors is seen as more than a simple restoration of credibility; it is expected to be the starting gun for the next-generation competition in retinal disease treatments. That's because the retinal disease market MT-103 is entering stands at an inflection point, moving from "Eylea" and "Vabysmo" to a new generation.
Currently, the market was pioneered by Eylea from U.S.-based Regeneron and Germany's Bayer, with Switzerland's Roche and its Vabysmo rapidly catching up. Used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema, Eylea works by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and is a representative blockbuster drug generating about 12 trillion won in annual sales.
Following that, Vabysmo is a bispecific antibody that simultaneously inhibits VEGF and Ang-2, a factor that stimulates aging. By more effectively suppressing inflammation, vascular leakage, and abnormal blood vessel growth, it succeeded in extending the dosing interval from the conventional 1–2 months to up to 16 weeks. Since its launch, it has grown rapidly to establish itself as a next-generation therapy.
The industry is now focusing on the next generation: therapies based on the "Tie2 receptor," which prevents vascular damage and blood leakage. Tie2 is a signaling pathway that stabilizes blood vessels and restores damaged microvasculature to a normal state. It is regarded as an approach that goes beyond merely suppressing abnormal vessel formation to normalize the vessels themselves.
Currently, the leading third-generation candidate is "MK-8748" from Merck (MSD). MSD recently initiated a global phase 3 trial of MK-8748. In earlier phase 1 and 2a trials, reductions in intraretinal edema and vascular leakage, improvements in best-corrected visual acuity, and decreased retinal thickness were observed, raising market expectations.
MK-8748 is a candidate developed by domestic biotech Ingenia Therapeutics and transferred in 2022 to iBio. After MSD acquired iBio in 2024, it entered global development. In the industry, if MK-8748, a candidate in the same class, proves the potential of Tie2-based therapies, interest in the follower MT-103 is also expected to rise.
MT-103, which Curacle transferred to Memento, is also being developed as a bispecific antibody that regulates the Ang-2/Tie2 pathway simultaneously with VEGF inhibition. The company said preclinical studies showed a superior reduction in vascular leakage compared with Eylea and Vabysmo.
An industry official said, "With the disclosure of Memento's investor lineup, Curacle's 'MT-103' has begun to be evaluated not just as a simple technology export but as a candidate participating in the next-generation competition for retinal disease treatments," adding, "A NewCo is a model that commercializes new drug technologies in the form of a spinoff or JV (joint venture), which makes it easier to attract external investment and strategic partnerships while diversifying development risk, and it will likely take root as a new technology commercialization strategy in the domestic industry going forward."