[100-Year Brain Health⑥] Korea to Become a Super-Aged Society in 3 Years... Rising Interest in Dementia-Related Stocks Increasing

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] It is projected that by 2025, South Korea will enter a "super-aged society" where the proportion of the population aged 65 and over exceeds 20%, raising interest in "dementia." It is known that 2 to 3 out of every 10 elderly people aged 65 and above suffer from dementia. In particular, recent research shows an increase in Alzheimer's dementia among the population aged 40 and above in South Korea, which has also heightened attention on pharmaceutical and biotech stocks related to dementia prevention and early detection.

Dementia diagnostic kits are a clear area of leadership for South Korea. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new Alzheimer's drug for the first time in 18 years, drawing attention to related stocks domestically, but dementia diagnostic kit devices were developed even earlier. In 2018, South Korea launched the world's first dementia diagnostic kit, with PeopleBio, a KOSDAQ-listed company, recognized as the industry leader. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) granted the world's first sales approval for PeopleBio's Alzheimer's diagnostic kit, the 'in Blood OAβ Test (OAβ Test),' in 2018. The OAβ Test measures amyloid beta in the blood and is known to have a diagnostic accuracy of about 85%, comparable to the existing dementia diagnostic test, positron emission tomography (PET).

Another dementia diagnostic kit-related stock is FutureChem. Established in 2001 and listed on KOSDAQ, FutureChem achieved the world's first commercialization of the Parkinson's disease radiodiagnostic agent PDView in 2008 and the first domestic commercialization of the Alzheimer's dementia diagnostic radiopharmaceutical Alzaview in 2018. In 2019, it also received new drug approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Jang-yeol Kim, a researcher at Sangsangin Securities, said, "FutureChem's Parkinson's disease radiodiagnostic agent PDView is expected to generate sales of 10 billion KRW within a few years." He added, "While the competitor GE Healthcare's diagnostic agent requires image acquisition after 3 hours, FutureChem's can do so in 90 minutes, and its price is about 400,000 KRW compared to the competitor's 2,700 USD (approximately 3.63 million KRW), making it about one-ninth the cost, giving it outstanding competitiveness even compared to global competitors."

In addition to dementia diagnostic kits, stocks related to treatments are also gaining attention. The global dementia treatment market was valued at 1.2 billion USD (approximately 1.6 trillion KRW) in 2020 and is expected to reach 12.3 billion USD (approximately 17 trillion KRW) by 2026, with an annual growth rate of about 47%.

Representative dementia treatment-related stocks listed on the KOSDAQ market include ABL Bio, Aptamer Science, Kainos Medicine, Cellivery, and GemVax. Founded in 2016 and listed on KOSDAQ in 2018, ABL Bio has steadily secured performance through the development of dementia-related treatments. Earlier this year, it successfully completed its first large-scale technology transfer with a global pharmaceutical company by licensing its Parkinson's treatment (ABL 301), which uses a bispecific antibody platform, to Sanofi for about 1.3 trillion KRW.

Jung-hyun Kim, a researcher at Kyobo Securities, analyzed, "From an R&D perspective, ABL Bio and FutureChem are promising. ABL Bio can demonstrate long-term R&D capabilities through additional technology transfer contracts, and FutureChem is expected to see an increase in value for its radiopharmaceutical mechanism as the stock prices of global peers like Point Biopharm have recently rebounded."