Liscure Bio is set to challenge the KOSDAQ market for an initial public offering. The company holds a next-generation blood-brain barrier (BBB) shuttle platform and a clinical-stage, microbe-based liver disease therapeutic candidate. Analysts suggest that securing commercialization results from the BBB shuttle platform will be the deciding factor in the success of the public offering.
Liscure Bio said Wednesday that it recently passed a technical evaluation by a specialized agency for a KOSDAQ special-case listing and has begun preparations for its IPO (initial public offering). It is expected to file for a pre-listing review with Korea Exchange in early next year.
Liscure Bio is a biotech company established in December 2018. As of the end of last year, its largest shareholder was Ilgopnamu Co., Ltd., holding a 32.24% stake.
In its early days, Liscure Bio primarily researched microbe-based immunotherapies before expanding its business scope to the BBB shuttle platform. Recently, it has focused more on commercializing the BBB shuttle platform.
The BBB shuttle is a technology that helps therapeutic drugs penetrate brain cells by passing through the thick and robust blood-brain barrier. The company's flagship asset is 'ExoPN-101,' a BBB shuttle platform utilizing extracellular vesicles (EVs).
Liscure Bio emphasized that ExoPN-101 represents a new modality (therapeutic approach) that utilizes EVs rather than antibodies, unlike other BBB shuttles. The company explained that global interest is high in this next-generation BBB shuttle platform, which can deliver various therapeutic substances. It has already signed material transfer agreements (MTAs) with five domestic and international companies, including global big pharma. An MTA is a pre-technology transfer stage, and if inter-company testing proceeds smoothly, it can lead to commercialization.
Ahead of its entry into the public offering market, Liscure Bio's lack of technology transfer experience is cited as a weakness. To offset this, the company aims to sign a global technology transfer agreement before filing for a pre-listing review with the BBB shuttle platform.
Another weapon for Liscure Bio is 'LB-P8,' a clinical-stage microbe-based liver disease therapeutic. It is currently undergoing Phase 2 clinical trials in the United States. Previously, it was designated as an orphan drug and granted Fast Track status (expedited review) by the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration). If meaningful data are confirmed in the Phase 2 trial, investor interest during the IPO offering process is expected to grow.
Liscure Bio is currently conducting a pre-IPO (pre-listing investment round) of 20 billion won. This is because funds are needed to supplement personnel and equipment to respond to technology transfer discussions regarding the BBB shuttle platform.
A Liscure Bio official stated, "LB-P8 is a new drug pipeline that exerts its efficacy primarily through metabolites produced by microorganisms, and we are smoothly securing efficacy data in Phase 2 clinical trials." The official added, "In particular, to address concerns from some quarters of the public offering market regarding the lack of technology transfer, we are focusing on rapidly generating commercialization results with the BBB shuttle platform."
in THEBIO
