[Market Focus] Neofect Rises as President Yoon Launches Mental Health Committee and Increases Funding for Depression Treatment

Neofect is showing strong performance. This appears to be influenced by President Yoon Suk-yeol’s announcement that the national “Mind Investment” initiative will begin in July.

As of 1:58 p.m. on June 27, Neofect was trading at 955 KRW, up 5.41% from the previous day.

On this day, President Yoon presided over the first meeting of the “Mental Health Policy Innovation Committee” at the National Center for Mental Health in Seoul. He emphasized, “Just as our country has achieved material prosperity, we must also ensure a balanced focus on the mental health of our people,” and added, “Mental illnesses must be managed with the same level of attention from society as physical illnesses.”

He continued, “Last year, we established a vision for mental health policy, and starting next year, we will begin full-scale financial investment.”

President Yoon had previously pledged to establish the presidential “Mental Health Policy Innovation Committee” at the Mental Health Policy Vision Declaration Ceremony in December last year. This marks the first time a presidential committee has been launched in the field of mental health under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

Meanwhile, Neofect’s affiliate Ybrain is a mental health digital therapeutics platform company that possesses a prescription digital therapeutic for depression. Recently, its migraine digital therapeutic, Dupang, received ‘510(k)’ clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Previously, Ybrain was reported to have successfully completed Phase 3 clinical trials for its digital therapeutic as a monotherapy for depression. In the trial, the efficacy and safety of treating depressive symptoms using transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) were evaluated in 65 patients diagnosed with mild to moderate major depressive disorder. According to Neofect, after patients used the digital therapeutic for 30 minutes daily over six weeks, more than 50% of those with major depressive disorder experienced an improvement in depressive symptoms.