InventiGELAB (CEO Juhee Kim), a company specializing in microsphere long-acting injectable drugs and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platforms, announced on the 31st of last month through a public disclosure that it will acquire management rights of Curatis (CEO Sungjun Kim), a vaccine development and CDMO specialized company.
InventiGELAB plans to invest 25 billion KRW by March through acquiring convertible bonds of Curatis and participating in a paid-in capital increase of common stock. Including the convertible bonds converted into common stock, InventiGELAB will hold about 40% of Curatis shares, securing the position of the largest shareholder.
Through acquiring management rights of Curatis, InventiGELAB will rapidly establish dedicated manufacturing facilities for long-acting injectable drugs within Curatis’ Osong Bio Plant and accelerate securing a long-term growth foundation and competitiveness.
Previously, InventiGELAB pursued large-scale funding of 53.8 billion KRW to secure its own GMP. Curatis’ Osong Bio Plant is a site equipped with global-level GMP manufacturing facilities such as cGMP and EU-GMP, and already has a track record of manufacturing global clinical samples for mRNA vaccines developed by Curatis.
By applying InventiGELAB’s long-acting drug delivery technology and manufacturing platform technology IVL-DrugFluidic® to the Osong Bio Plant factory, the company can perform ongoing clinical development projects with global and domestic pharmaceutical companies more efficiently and stably. In addition, mass production at the commercialization stage after clinical trial sample production can be immediately handled at the same manufacturing site, further strengthening competitiveness in BD and platform technology sales with global and domestic partners.
The company is also planning to strengthen competitiveness in the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) business division applied to next-generation mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. Since 2023, InventiGELAB has been developing HANDYGENE™ GMP, a mass production equipment for LNP manufacturing, and HANDYGENE™ Lab, a research equipment, and is building a CDMO ecosystem for gene therapy based on these.
Curatis expects to create new growth momentum and long-term corporate value enhancement effects through strategic cooperation with InventiGELAB. In particular, Curatis anticipates securing stable revenue sources and improving financial soundness by serving as the main GMP manufacturing site responsible for clinical sample manufacturing and subsequent commercial manufacturing of InventiGELAB’s development items, including the GLP-1 long-acting injectable drug for obesity treatment with excellent marketability. Product production is planned to be possible as early as the second half of this year.
Furthermore, Curatis believes that adding InventiGELAB’s LNP manufacturing platform to its existing mRNA manufacturing facilities for vaccine development will maximize competitiveness as a next-generation mRNA therapeutic CDMO. Through technological and business synergies between the two companies, they will be able to promote global-level CDMO technology sales with an expanded CDMO business model under the ‘Gene to GMP’ concept, covering the entire process from LNP formulation research, synthesis of genetic materials such as mRNA, LNP manufacturing, to final product filling.
Juhee Kim, CEO of InventiGELAB, said, “We are very pleased to achieve the core business goals of securing a GMP production base for long-acting injectable drugs and strengthening the value chain of the LNP CDMO business through this acquisition,” adding, “The synergy created between the two companies will be an important turning point that further enhances the competitiveness of the InventiGELAB platform in the global market.”
She continued, “Curatis will also be able to add new business items and advanced platforms in addition to its existing core business, securing long-term growth momentum, which we expect will send a positive message to the market.”
Sungjun Kim, CEO of Curatis, stated, “We expect that our vaccine development capabilities and CDMO competitiveness will be further strengthened by combining with InventiGELAB’s capital and technology through this deal,” and added, “Having gained an opportunity to maximize the capabilities Curatis possesses, we will rapidly grow into a globally competitive CDMO and become a company that meets market expectations with business achievements and performance.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
