KPS Changes Company Name to 'Kips Biopharma'... "Starting Sustainable Value-Up"

KOSDAQ-listed company KPS announced on the 13th that it will change its company name to ‘KEEPS BioPharma’ along with its pharmaceutical company mergers and acquisitions. The new name embodies the meaning of a sustainable pharmaceutical and bio company. The company expressed its ambition to become a global pharmaceutical company by focusing on the development of a new drug pipeline in earnest, along with the name change.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure, KPS held a board meeting on the same day and included a proposal to change the company name to KEEPS BioPharma in the agenda for the shareholders’ meeting scheduled for the 28th. If the agenda passes without opposition at the shareholders’ meeting, the company name before the amendment of the articles of incorporation, ‘KPS,’ will be changed to ‘KEEPS BioPharma’ after the amendment. Following the absorption merger of its subsidiary Korea Global Pharmaceutical, the company’s DNA will completely shift from an OLED equipment manufacturer to a pharmaceutical and bio company by changing its name as well.

Starting this year, KEEPS BioPharma will expand its business scope not only in its core prescription drug (ETC) market but also in the over-the-counter (OTC) drug market. The company has set a goal to double both sales and operating profit compared to the previous year. Additionally, it plans to convert major products with high sales contributions to in-house production and thoroughly prepare for price reductions through active bioequivalence testing to maximize profit margins.

A company representative stated, “We will rapidly expand our sales activities nationwide, which have so far been concentrated in regions such as Honam and Jeju, to accelerate external growth. We will also maximize profit-generating capabilities by increasing the proportion of in-house production for both finished products and raw material purchases.”

KEEPS BioPharma plans to go beyond generic drug production and establish its identity as a biotech company by engaging in new drug development as part of its sustainable value-up (corporate value) project.

The new drug pipeline secured by the company includes the low-molecular anticancer drug candidate ‘Idetrexed,’ currently in clinical trials for ovarian cancer, and the lung cancer antibody drug candidate ‘AGK-102,’ which targets ‘TM4SF4,’ a surface protein of cancer stem cells.

In particular, Idetrexed recently began a Phase 1b clinical trial of combination therapy with Lynparza (active ingredient Olaparib), a PARP (Poly ADP-Ribose Polymerase Inhibitor) developed by AstraZeneca, led by the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) earlier this month.

The company also plans to accelerate the development of the ‘oral obesity drug’ platform of KB Biomed, which it acquired last month. KB Biomed has secured platform technology that dramatically improves oral absorption by mineralizing peptides, focusing its capabilities on advancing technology to convert currently injectable insulin and GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) class obesity and diabetes treatments into oral formulations.

The company stated that it will begin preclinical trials to determine the bioavailability of oral insulin and oral GLP-1 by next month at the latest.

Kim Ha-yong, CEO of KPS, said, “With this name change, we have firmly established our identity as a pharmaceutical and bio company with consolidated sales in the 200 billion KRW range starting this year. Having laid the foundation for growth as a biotech company, we will now focus all our efforts on achieving tangible results in the global market, such as advancing the ‘oral obesity drug’ platform and securing technology export contracts.”