Lapas Acquires CEO Shares... "Confidence in Micro-Needle Business Growth"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Jeong Dohyun, CEO of Lapas, a specialized company in microneedle pharmaceuticals, has acquired an additional 10,000 shares. This share acquisition signifies not only a strengthening of responsible management but also confidence in the growth of the microneedle business focused on pharmaceuticals such as vaccines.

Lapas announced on the 22nd that CEO Jeong Dohyun acquired 10,000 treasury shares worth 470 million KRW through on-market purchases. With this treasury stock acquisition, CEO Jeong's stake increased to 24%.

A Lapas official stated, “Although the two-year lock-up period following the listing on the 11th has ended, allowing CEO Jeong to sell his shares, it is significant that he instead proceeded with additional share acquisition. This acquisition demonstrates confidence in the company's growth, and based on the stabilization of management rights, we plan to accelerate key projects currently underway, such as the microneedle 'vaccine' business.”

In August, Lapas raised 30 billion KRW to build a factory for vaccine patches and various pharmaceutical patches. The site selection for the factory is currently underway, and the factory site is expected to be finalized by the end of this year at the earliest. Once the new factory, equipped with 'cGMP' standards that can be approved by the US FDA next year, begins construction, Lapas plans to establish the world's first mass production system for microneedle patch pharmaceuticals.

Lapas is developing microneedle-based 'vaccine patches' through collaborations with various domestic and international companies. The mRNA vaccine is being developed not only with domestic researchers but also with multinational pharmaceutical companies, while the bacteria-based vaccine patch is being developed as an in-house pipeline. Lapas is working on hepatitis B virus (HBV) and inactivated poliovirus (IPV) vaccine patches with the Indian vaccine company Serum Institute (Serum), and is also developing DNA vaccine patches with domestic venture companies.

A Lapas official said, “Starting with vaccine patch development, we will apply microneedles to various pharmaceuticals to rapidly replace existing oral and injectable formulations, becoming a leading company in the improved new drug field. We will proceed smoothly with the construction of the new factory currently underway and leap forward as the world's best microneedle pharmaceutical manufacturer.”