Factory interior view of Celltrion (Photo by Celltrion)
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Celltrion is securing a new drug pipeline through equity investment in the UK antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) developer 'Iksuda Therapeutics.'
On the 7th, Celltrion announced that it recently signed a contract with Mirae Asset Group to invest a total of $47 million (approximately 52.2 billion KRW) to become the largest shareholder of Iksuda. Half of the investment has already been executed, and the remaining funds will be invested immediately upon meeting certain milestones.
Together with Mirae Asset Group, Celltrion has established the ‘Mirae Asset Celltrion New Growth Investment Fund No.1’ worth 150 billion KRW, focusing investments on Celltrion’s new business areas. This investment is one of the fruits of such efforts. In addition to Celltrion, Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Mirae Asset Securities, and Premier Partners participated as institutional investors.
Celltrion has been seeking business models capable of generating revenue and value beyond biosimilars and chemical drugs. They determined that Iksuda, specialized in ADCs that can independently create high added value based on antibodies and synergize with Celltrion’s existing antibody therapeutics, is the most suitable company, leading to the decision to invest in equity.
Iksuda is an ADC developer derived from the University of Bath, UK, in 2012. It leads with 'IKS03,' targeting CD19 for the treatment of B-cell lymphoma, and independently owns four preclinical-stage ADC pipelines and a drug-antibody conjugate platform technology called the linker-payload platform.
ADC technology utilizes potent cytotoxic effects while reducing systemic toxicity. It also has the advantage of selectively delivering drugs to cancer tissues by leveraging the antibody’s ability to recognize cancer antigens, enabling maximum efficacy with minimal dosage.
Moreover, most ADCs are designated as orphan drugs, innovative new drugs, or fast-track, allowing relatively rapid development. The market size is expected to grow from $5 billion (approximately 5.555 trillion KRW) to $18 billion (approximately 20 trillion KRW) by 2025.
Celltrion's breast cancer and gastric cancer treatment biosimilar 'Herzuma' (Photo by Celltrion)
Celltrion currently holds anticancer drugs such as Truxima for hematologic cancers and Herzuma for breast and gastric cancers. By adding ADC technology through this investment, it is expected that more diverse anticancer drug development will be possible. Furthermore, Celltrion plans to pursue new drug development through the future development of its own ADC platform technology.
A Celltrion official stated, "We will continue various investments to expand treatment areas and find new future growth engines. Based on this equity investment in Iksuda, we plan to maximize the pipeline by creating synergy with the antibody drugs the company currently holds and developing next-generation anticancer drugs."
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