[Click eStock] "Jinwon Life Sciences, Subsidiary VGXI Active in Production... Discussing Orders with Big Pharma"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Cape Investment & Securities announced on the 17th that after visiting VGXI, the US subsidiary of Jinwon Life Sciences, it is already operating actively and is currently in discussions for production and orders with multiple gene therapy developers.

Seungtaek Oh, a researcher at Cape Investment & Securities, said, “Last month, we conducted a tour and due diligence of VGXI’s old and new plants located in Texas, USA,” adding, “The old plant has a 700L scale pDNA production facility and an mRNA raw material production facility, which were already operating actively.”

The new plant is scheduled to hold a completion ceremony around the end of May. Currently, one 1500L fermenter and three 500L fermenters, totaling 3000L capacity, are on standby for operation, and VGXI employees are frequently entering and exiting as validation work is underway.

Researcher Oh stated, “As a result of meetings and due diligence with local personnel in the US, we are currently in discussions for production and orders with multiple startups and some big pharma companies developing gene therapies,” and added, “Partnerships with global RNA capping companies are also being actively discussed.”

Currently, the core competitiveness in the plasmid DNA market lies in the ability to produce plasmid DNA with high purity, high concentration, and high yield. Jinwon Life Sciences’ VGXI possesses high-quality pDNA production capabilities based on its self-developed AirMix technology.

He analyzed, “Regarding the competitor Aldevron, there is an ongoing technology infringement lawsuit, and considering that Aldevron holds references for supplying raw materials for Moderna’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine production, the current discount on VGXI is due to sales force factors and the timing of revenue generation.”

He further judged, “This discount logic can be resolved at the point when the new plant’s capacity is realized as sales after the completion ceremony in May.”