April Bio is showing strong performance. Amid the recent surge in stock prices of major domestic platform biotech companies including Alteogen, securities firms' analyses highlighting April Bio as the next beneficiary appear to be influencing its stock price.
As of 9:17 AM on the 11th, April Bio was trading at 16,190 KRW, up 1,580 KRW (10.81%) compared to the previous trading day.
On the 7th, April Bio announced the topline results of the global Phase 1 clinical trial for ‘APB-R3’, an anti-IL-18 autoinflammatory disease drug candidate applying the SAFA (sustained-release recombinant protein) platform. The trial, conducted on 31 healthy adults, confirmed no safety or tolerability issues. Pharmacodynamic evaluation showed a half-life of 13 to 14 days, confirming one of the core competitive advantages of the SAFA platform: ‘extended half-life’.
Lee Dong-geon, a researcher at SK Securities, stated, "The final clinical study report (CSR) is expected to be received in May," adding, "The Phase 1 clinical results of APB-R3 reaffirm the competitiveness of the SAFA platform as a platform technology."
He continued, "This indicates increased visibility for the technology transfer of R3, which is currently under discussion with multiple global pharmaceutical companies aiming for licensing within this year."
Furthermore, he emphasized, "As a platform biotech company, the possibility of multiple technology transfers of the SAFA platform beyond individual compounds has increased," and added, "This is encouraging from the perspective of re-evaluating the value of the existing pipeline and the potential for multiple platform technology transfer agreements."
The researcher assessed, "April Bio has already confirmed high safety and tolerability through two pipelines, as well as the essential long half-life as a long-acting platform," and concluded, "As a platform company with visible achievements, the risks are limited."
He also expressed expectations, saying, "Considering the current cash holdings of approximately 65 billion KRW, the milestone payment expected to be received upon entering the global Phase 2 trial of A1 in the third quarter, which is within 10 billion KRW, and upfront payments possible from additional technology transfers, there is no need to raise funds for at least the next 4 to 5 years." The researcher added, "Five years ago, Alteogen’s corporate value was in the 200 billion KRW range before proving the value of its SC modification platform through technology transfer. Similarly, April Bio is judged to be at the early stage of entering that phase where platform value will be proven and corporate value will surge."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
