[Special Stock] Korea BNC Emerges as Challenger to Novo Nordisk... Pursuing GLP1-GIP Technology Export

Korea BNC is showing strong performance. The news that the company is aiming for a 'quantum jump' by structuring its business around 'hot' drugs and platform technologies in the global pharmaceutical and bio markets?such as GLP-1 (GLP) obesity treatments, dementia treatments, botulinum toxin, fillers, and ADCs?appears to be influencing its stock price. With botulinum toxin and fillers now actively being exported, the pipeline including GLP-1 is expected to successfully license out to big pharma after completing Phase 1 clinical trials. GLP-1 is regarded as the substance closest to licensing. It is known that big pharma companies, including Novo Nordisk, have shown great interest in GLP1-GIP dual agonist data through Ian Laquian, CEO of the Danish company Keryasa, who is stationed at Novo Nordisk.

As of 2:03 PM on the 23rd, Korea BNC is trading at 6,100 KRW, up 9.12% from the previous trading day.

Korea BNC expects contributions from the GLP1-GIP dual agonist co-developed with Denmark’s Keryasa, the GLP-GIP-GCG triple agonist under development with ProApTec, third-generation ADCs, T-type calcium channel blockers and STAT3 dual-target anticancer drugs, and MET mutation non-small cell lung cancer treatments developed with OncoGen.

Choi Wankyu, CEO of Korea BNC, stated, "Novo Nordisk plans to complete a large-scale Phase 3 trial by 2025?2026 to prove the efficacy of semaglutide (GLP1) in improving Alzheimer’s dementia," and added, "If meaningful results come out of Novo Nordisk’s clinical trials, the drug value of the GLP1-GIP dual agonist co-developed with Keryasa will also increase."

He continued, "By attaching a cell-penetrating peptide to the GLP1-GIP dual agonist, we have increased permeability through the blood-brain barrier (BB), making it more effective than Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide in brain cell regeneration, synaptic neurotransmission plasticity enhancement, brain metabolism activation, brain inflammation reduction, and removal of abnormal protein aggregates (plaques) such as amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau (Tau)." He explained, "If Phase 1 is successful, we will proceed with licensing out to big pharma."

The GLP-GIP-GCG triple agonist, co-developed with ProApTec as a sustained-release obesity treatment, is also considered a promising factor. The GLP-GIP-GCG triple agonist has demonstrated efficacy in both in vivo and in vitro studies, and plans are to confirm final results in the first half of next year before entering non-clinical trials.

CEO Choi introduced, "It has a long in vivo half-life of over three weeks using non-natural amino acid insertion technology and site-specific albumin binding technology, and its efficacy is excellent. While GLP1 and dual agonists are emerging, we expect the triple agonist to be more competitive in weight loss effects."

The third-generation ADC technology is another pipeline the company is focusing on. ADCs are anticancer drugs that selectively target cancer cells by linking antibodies that bind to specific target antigens on the cancer cell surface with potent cytotoxic drugs (payloads) via linkers. Korea BNC and ProApTec have used albumin-fused antibodies to significantly extend the half-life.

CEO Choi explained, "AlbubodyTM, which fuses an albumin-binding domain with a single-chain variable fragment (ScFv), and the drug bound to it can be considered a third-generation ADC. The small molecular weight of ScFv enhances tumor penetration while reducing the risk of side effects caused by the Fc region of conventional ADCs. We are currently at the stage of identifying primary candidate substances."

Korea BNC is also developing a MET mutation anticancer drug based on CMPD (chaperone-mediated targeted protein degradation) for EGFR treatment in collaboration with OncoGen, with clinical trials soon to begin in Australia. CEO Choi said, "We confirmed 95% tumor suppression in animal models," and added, "It showed 80% inhibition of MET mutations." He emphasized, "If meaningful data and positive results come out in Phase 1 clinical trials, we will proceed with licensing."