Daewoong Pharmaceutical Surpasses 1 Trillion Won in Technology Exports This Year: "Largest Scale in the Industry"

Three Technology Exports This Year... Worth 1.1621 Trillion KRW

Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on the 12th that the scale of technology exports for three new drugs and new drug candidates signed this year exceeded 1 trillion won, reaching 1.1621 trillion won.

Signing ceremony for the technology export contract between Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Additum Bio, a subsidiary.
[Photo by Daewoong Pharmaceutical]

The amount of technology export contracts Daewoong Pharmaceutical has signed from January to the present this year is the largest in the same industry.

Last month, during President Yoon Seok-yeol's state visit to the United States, Daewoong Pharmaceutical signed a contract transferring the rights for the global development and commercialization of the oral autoimmune treatment new drug candidate 'DWP213388' to VitaliBio, a portfolio company of the U.S. biotechnology investment firm Additum Bio, at the 'Korea-U.S. Digital and Biohealth Business Forum.' The contract size, excluding royalty income, is $477 million (approximately 639.1 billion won).

The company explained that this new drug candidate, which is in the pre-clinical phase 1 stage, has been recognized for its considerable technological value. The contract also includes options for technology transfer of two other new drug candidates under development by Daewoong Pharmaceutical. If the option rights are exercised, it will become the largest multi-pipeline autoimmune treatment technology export by a domestic pharmaceutical company.

DWP213388 is the first new drug in its class that can inhibit dual targets: Bruton's tyrosine kinase and interleukin-2-inducible T-cell kinase, which are target proteins involved in the activation of immune cells such as B cells and T cells.

Earlier, in January this year, Daewoong Pharmaceutical signed a Greater China technology export contract with UK-based CSP Pharmaceuticals for 'Versiporosin,' a candidate drug for PRS and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Versiporosin is a new drug that received FDA approval for phase 2 clinical trials and fast-track designation last year. The contract size amounts to $336 million (approximately 413 billion won). In February, Daewoong Pharmaceutical also signed a technology export contract for 'Envlo,' an SGLT-2 inhibitor class diabetes treatment, for Latin America. The contract size, including technology fees, is $84.36 million (approximately 110 billion won).

Jeon Seung-ho, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, said, "Through a series of large-scale technology export contracts since the beginning of the year, Daewoong Pharmaceutical is being recognized as a strong player in new drug development in the global pharmaceutical and bio markets. We will do our best to directly engage overseas to foster new drug development and export growth, which are the future growth engines of Korea's pharmaceutical and bio industry."