Chaperon Submits Securities Registration Statement... Full-Scale Entry into Initial Public Offering

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Shaperon, a bio company developing innovative immune drugs, has submitted a securities registration statement to the Financial Supervisory Service and is officially promoting its initial public offering (IPO).

Shaperon, pursuing a technology-specialized listing, plans to strengthen its new drug development pipeline and focus on global clinical trials and commercialization through its KOSDAQ listing. Shaperon is offering a total of 2,747,000 shares with a desired price band of 8,200 to 10,200 KRW per share. It aims to raise up to 28 billion KRW through the IPO.

From the 20th to the 21st of next month, demand forecasting will be conducted targeting institutional investors to finalize the offering price. Subscription will take place from the 26th to the 27th of next month, with the company scheduled to be listed on KOSDAQ within the year. NH Investment & Securities is the lead underwriter, and all offered shares will be newly issued without any sale of existing shares. Most of the shares held by existing shareholders are subject to voluntary lock-up agreements, resulting in over 70% of shares being under protective custody after listing.

The proceeds from the offering will be used for research and development, facility investments, and operating expenses. The company plans to focus on strengthening the competitiveness of each pipeline through global clinical development, discovering new pipelines, securing excellent researchers and research facilities, and promoting global commercialization.

Founded in 2008, Shaperon is an immunology-based innovative drug development bio company developing synthetic drugs that inhibit inflammasomes targeting GPCR19, a new drug for intractable inflammatory diseases. It has developed NuGel®, an atopic dermatitis treatment; NuCerin®, an Alzheimer’s dementia treatment; and NuSepin®, a COVID-19 treatment.

Based on nanobody technology, which reduces the size of existing antibody therapeutics to one-tenth, facilitating the development of various formulations and overcoming the disadvantages of conventional antibody therapies with high stability, Shaperon is applying this technology to develop next-generation immuno-oncology drugs.

In March last year, Shaperon completed a technology transfer agreement for a dementia treatment drug with Kukjeon Pharmaceuticals. In April this year, it signed a technology transfer agreement for an idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment drug with Bridge Biotherapeutics, recognizing the value of its technology.

Reflecting the progress of license-out activities, operating profit increased by 282%, from 523 million KRW in the first half of last year to 2 billion KRW in the first half of this year.

Seong Seung-yong and Lee Myung-se, co-CEOs of Shaperon, emphasized, "Through the listing, we will focus on pipeline development to generate stable profits," adding, "We will devote ourselves to maximizing corporate value and competitiveness based on new drug development achievements."