CBI Decides to Acquire 16.5% Stake in Nasdaq-Listed Company 'Exicure'

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] CBI announced on the 10th that it has decided to invest $4.75 million (approximately 6 billion KRW) in Nasdaq-listed Exicure (Nasdaq: XCUR), acquiring a 16.5% stake.

Last May, CBI invested in Kineta, based in Seattle, USA. CBI has served as a bridge for Korea-US bio collaboration by conducting clinical trials of Korean biotech companies in the US through Kineta, while seeking opportunities to acquire competitively priced Nasdaq-listed biotech companies. During this process, Kineta introduced Exicure to CBI in February, leading to formal negotiations.

Exicure, headquartered in Chicago, is a nucleic acid (oligonucleotide) therapeutics company founded in 2011 and listed on Nasdaq in 2018. It has researchers with expertise in nucleic acid chemistry, drug development, and neuroscience, as well as capable business development personnel.

Exicure develops nucleic acid therapeutics for neurological diseases, tumor inflammatory diseases, and other genetic disorders based on its proprietary spherical nucleic acid (SNA) technology derived from research by Professor Chad A. Mirkin of Northwestern University.

Exicure’s exclusive spherical nucleic acid (SNA) structure offers clear advantages over other nucleic acid therapeutics and represents a platform technology with therapeutic competitiveness targeting diseases that other nucleic acid therapies cannot address.

At the end of 2019, Exicure signed two co-development license agreements for hair loss treatments with Allergan (now AbbVie). The license deal is worth a total of $72.5 million (approximately 92 billion KRW). Currently conducting preclinical studies, Exicure expects royalty income of $20-30 million next year from joint research.

Additionally, in August last year, Exicure signed a co-research and development license agreement with Ipsen for two rare neurological disease treatments (Huntington’s disease and Angelman syndrome). The license deal is valued at $1 billion (approximately 1.27 trillion KRW). The company stated that although it is currently in the discovery phase, milestones from preclinical studies are expected next year.

A CBI official said, “Although Exicure experienced a stock price decline and restructuring due to a preclinical data manipulation incident last year, this led to over 50% internal restructuring, laying the foundation for a fresh start. Through this investment, Exicure will rapidly develop its non-opioid pain relief pipeline and thoroughly support the four licensed-out pipelines.”

He added, “When Exicure’s market capitalization was high, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Abingworth were major shareholders, and Abingworth plans to co-invest alongside CBI. CBI will grow Exicure together with the existing Exicure management team and Kineta.”