[Featured Stock] ABL Bio's Core Technology Aligns with Global Trends... Bispecific Antibody Technology Desired by Big Pharma

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] ABL Bio is showing strong performance. The news that it is holding meetings with global major pharmaceutical companies (big pharma) at the ‘2022 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference’ seems to have influenced its stock price.

As of 9:58 AM on the 14th, ABL Bio is trading at 30,300 KRW, up 11.4% from the previous day.

In addition to the companies originally planned, ABL Bio held additional meetings with new big pharma companies. The company explained that attention was focused during the event period as it announced a technology transfer contract with Sanofi for the Parkinson’s disease treatment ‘ABL301’.

On the 12th, ABL Bio signed a technology transfer contract with Sanofi for ABL301 worth $1.06 billion (approximately 1.272 trillion KRW). The upfront payment and short-term milestone payments total $120 million (approximately 144 billion KRW).

ABL301 is one of ABL Bio’s drug candidates (pipeline) developed using the ‘GrabBodyB’ platform technology. It targets the insulin-like growth factor receptor ‘IGF1R’, which has high brain expression, to increase blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability.

Hana Kang, a researcher at Ebest Investment & Securities, explained, "The trend of global big pharma soon leads the trend of domestic bio companies," adding, "When a technology transfer contract with global big pharma is concluded, the recognition of the technology increases."

She continued, "It is no exaggeration to say that the funding issue has been resolved through the contract," emphasizing, "rather, the possibility of future deals has increased."

She analyzed, "If the first global entry is a technology transfer contract with big pharma, contracts based on clinical data releases will be possible later," and "IND applications for immune-oncology drugs ABL105 (HER2-41BB) and ABL101 (BCMA-41BB), jointly developed with Yuhan Corporation, are expected in the first half of this year."

Lee Sang-hoon, CEO of ABL Bio, said, "During meetings with big pharma, many discussions were held not only on the GrabBodyB platform but also on immune-oncology drug pipelines such as GrabBodyT and GrabBodyI," adding, "The big deal made the meetings proceed smoothly, and practical discussions were held rather than just technology introductions."

ABL Bio is developing BBB shuttle-based platform technology and drug candidates utilizing it for degenerative brain disease drugs. ‘ABL503’ and ‘ABL111’, which apply GrabBodyT, are currently in Phase 1 clinical trials in the U.S. ‘ABL101’ and ‘ABL105’ aim to enter Phase 1 this year, and ‘ABL103’ plans to start Phase 1 next year. ‘BL501’, based on GrabBodyI, is undergoing Phase 1 trials in Korea.