TerraScience Secures Majority Shareholder Position in US Cancer Vaccine Development Company

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Terascience, which is diversifying its business into display materials and components, is entering the cancer vaccine market worth 115 trillion KRW.

Terascience announced on the 27th that it acquired a 26.1% stake in OncoPep, a U.S.-based cancer vaccine and new drug development specialist company, from BioX. The acquisition amount totaled 24 billion KRW, making Terascience the largest shareholder of OncoPep through this acquisition.

OncoPep, acquired by Terascience, is a cancer vaccine new drug development specialist company located in Boston, USA. The PVX-410 cancer vaccine developed by OncoPep was developed at the world-renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Using this, they are developing four FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) pipelines including triple-negative breast cancer and multiple myeloma.

Among these, three pipelines are in the final stages of Phase 1 clinical trials and are about to enter Phase 2. OncoPep has already received clinical sponsorship from global pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, AstraZeneca, and Celgene. In February, the Phase 2 clinical trial plan for the combination therapy of PVX-410 and Merck’s Keytruda for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) was approved by the U.S. FDA, sufficiently verifying the technology.

Additionally, by integrating PVX-410 with the adaptive T-cell platform licensed from Manate Therapeutics at the end of last year, OncoPep has secured a next-generation immuno-oncology cell therapy pipeline, accelerating the development of new cancer treatments.

Lee Jong-seok, CEO of Terascience, said, “OncoPep’s PVX-410 cancer vaccine is non-toxic and aligns with the trend of immune cancer therapy. It has great potential as it can be applied not only to multiple myeloma and breast cancer but also potentially to colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancers in the future, which led us to decide on the investment.” He added, “By securing the largest shareholder status of OncoPep, which possesses outstanding technology and competitiveness in the cancer field, Terascience has secured a new growth engine through new bio business.”

Meanwhile, OncoPep is currently under an underwriting contract with Shinhan Investment Corp. and plans to actively pursue a KOSDAQ technology special listing starting from the second quarter.