[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Kyungdong Pharmaceutical announced on the 25th that it has made an equity investment of 3 billion KRW in ANLBIO, a gene therapy company specializing in degenerative brain diseases, and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for new drug research and development cooperation.
This equity investment in ANLBIO is the first step in Kyungdong Pharmaceutical's bio healthcare investment plan aimed at securing future new growth engines. Since the appointment of CEO Ryu Gi-seong as sole CEO in June, marking the start of second-generation management, the company plans to actively expand strategic investments (SI) in the bio healthcare business and create business synergies with various bio venture companies.
ANLBIO is a bio venture company researching and developing gene therapies by regulating ‘miRNA’. Utilizing its gene therapy discovery platform, it is developing treatments for the central nervous system (CNS) and rare diseases. The new drug research and development is led by CEO Kim Ki-tae of the R&D division, who first identified the correlation between ‘miRNA’ and aging worldwide, and Dr. Nam Hong-gil, head of the Plant Lifespan and Aging Research Group at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS).
The main pipeline, ‘ANL-101’, is a gene therapy new drug candidate for Alzheimer's dementia, a degenerative brain disease, designed to complete treatment with a single administration. ‘ANL-101’ regulates ‘miRNA’, known as a key factor in aging, to normalize the expression of major proteins within the Alzheimer's disease gene network, making it a candidate for Alzheimer's dementia treatment. Last year, ANLBIO obtained a U.S. patent for ‘ANL-101’, and it was the only private bio company selected for the non-clinical support project of the Dementia Overcoming Research and Development Program led by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Science and ICT.
ANLBIO is also nearing completion of its AVV (Adeno Virus Vector) platform technology, which helps genes stably reach specific cell nuclei using AVV.
A Kyungdong Pharmaceutical official said, “ANLBIO has excellent research and development capabilities in the gene therapy field, and we judged that the business synergy with Kyungdong Pharmaceutical would be very high, so we proceeded with equity investment and the MOU simultaneously,” adding, “We plan to actively collaborate on new drug research and development for degenerative brain disease gene therapies through close cooperation with ANLBIO.”
He added, “We plan to continue investing in bio healthcare venture companies to secure new growth engines in the future.”
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