[비즈한국] Domestic ADC (Antibody-Drug Conjugate) company AimedBio has made a strategic equity investment in regenerative medicine firm RegenInopharm. While the two companies have not yet defined specific joint development projects, AimedBio is exploring long-term cooperation possibilities with RegenInopharm as it expands its business scope beyond ADCs into the brain and central nervous system (CNS) sectors.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service, AimedBio invested 1 billion KRW in RegenInopharm on June 24 to secure a 5.72% stake.
RegenInopharm is a biotech company specializing in stem cells and regenerative medicine, founded by Professor Oh Il-hwan of the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine. The company is developing treatments for intractable vascular and central nervous system diseases based on a cell-free regenerative therapy platform that directly activates stem cells in the body and cell-penetrating peptide technology that maximizes drug delivery efficiency.
Both companies explained that AimedBio secured a stake after highly evaluating RegenInopharm's technology and business potential, characterizing it as a strategic investment (SI) with an eye toward future technical cooperation rather than a simple financial investment (FI).
The relationship between the two firms was also highlighted at the ADC Conference hosted by AimedBio on the 27th. At the time, RegenInopharm CEO Oh Il-hwan attended the event as a VIP guest upon invitation from AimedBio.
CEO Oh told BizHankook, "AimedBio is a leading ADC company, and RegenInopharm has shown competitiveness in the molecular platform-based regenerative medicine sector. We know each other well academically, and AimedBio made a partial investment because they view RegenInopharm as a quality company."
However, the cooperation between the two companies has not yet been finalized into specific projects, such as the joint development of a specific ADC candidate. They are currently at a stage of exploring long-term cooperation possibilities based on the intersection of their respective technologies.
CEO Oh noted, "While ADCs have mainly been used for tumor treatments by utilizing antibodies, their spectrum is continuously expanding. Since RegenInopharm possesses unique R&D platforms and cell-penetrating peptide technology, I believe that when combined with AimedBio’s technology, it could broaden their pipeline and technical spectrum."
At the same time, he clarified that the cooperation between the two companies would not immediately lead to joint ADC development. CEO Oh explained, "We are coordinating to move toward a strategic partnership from a longer-term perspective, rather than jumping directly into ADC development."
AimedBio CEO Hur Nam-goo also told BizHankook, "Our collaboration with RegenInopharm is not at a completed stage; we are actively considering cooperation in other areas at an intermediate level."
The field AimedBio is focusing on is CNS (central nervous system) diseases. In 2023, AimedBio drew market attention as an ADC company by licensing out its ADC candidate 'AMB302 (now BHV-1530)', which targets bladder cancer, head and neck cancer, and glioblastoma, to the U.S. firm Biohaven for a total of 440 million USD (approximately 600 billion KRW). However, its founding roots lie in the development of CNS disease treatments based on clinical big data from the Samsung Medical Center brain tumor clinic.
CEO Hur stated, "AimedBio is not a company that only does ADCs. We have been conducting deep research in the brain sector, and we plan to continue doing so. We are contemplating cooperation with RegenInopharm to develop new pipelines in the brain disease area."
Ultimately, this investment is a long-term strategic move aimed at finding new business opportunities based on both companies' research capabilities and technical intersections, rather than an attempt by AimedBio to immediately integrate RegenInopharm's technology into its existing ADC business.
This is not the first time AimedBio has taken investment and cooperation steps targeting CNS diseases. Last May, the company invested in Galux, an AI-based antibody drug development firm, and signed a joint research agreement. The two companies agreed to cooperate on developing a BBB (blood-brain barrier) penetrating protein delivery platform necessary for developing CNS treatments.