[Click eStock] "Subcutaneous Injection, Essential Option for Immuno-Oncology Drugs... Alteogen's Benefit Expected to Continue"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Shinhan Financial Investment analyzed on the 29th that since subcutaneous injection has become an essential option for immuno-oncology drug developers, Alteogen's benefits will continue. The investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy,' and the target price was slightly lowered to 145,000 KRW.

Researcher Donggeon Lee of Shinhan Financial Investment said, "Merck recently announced PK data of the subcutaneous (SC) injection formulation of Keytruda at AACR," adding, "After cross-administration of two SC formulations and the IV formulation and analyzing bioavailability, Keytruda SC showed 64%, which is similar to the IV formulation." He continued, "Since the bioavailability of Keytruda SC has been confirmed, they plan to expand its application to various cancer types through additional clinical trials."

He emphasized that subcutaneous injection has become an essential option for immuno-oncology drugs. He explained, "The development of SC formulations by immuno-oncology drug developers has become a must-have option," noting that this is largely aimed at securing competitiveness in the immuno-oncology market, where competition is intensifying due to biosimilar launches following patent expirations.

The researcher stated, "Among major immuno-oncology drugs, AstraZeneca's Imfinzi has not yet proceeded with SC formulation development," and added, "Since Tecentriq, which has the same mechanism of action, is already in clinical trials applying a competitor's platform, Alteogen's platform is essential for Imfinzi SC development." He further added, "We judge that there is sufficient momentum for additional big pharma technology transfers from Alteogen."

He explained, "Given the nature of immuno-oncology drugs being developed for multiple indications (Keytruda has obtained approval for over 20), we believe it is the time for the true value of Alteogen's platform technology, which can be licensed to multiple companies and multiple targets, to be demonstrated."