Development of the World's First Second-Generation Holotomography Technology
A Technology Unmatched Even by Recursion Pharma with a Market Cap of 3.2 Trillion KRW
Corporate Value Set to Rise Sharply with Expectations for International Standardization
TomoCube, which developed the world's first second-generation holotomography (HT) technology, is gaining attention in the domestic stock market.
According to the financial investment industry on May 2, TomoCube's stock price has risen by 28.7% compared to the end of March. Even considering that the KOSDAQ index rose by 7.3% during the same period, TomoCube's market outperformance stands at 21.4 percentage points.
TomoCube entered the KOSDAQ market on November 7 last year with an initial public offering price of 16,000 KRW. Choi Seunghwan, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., stated, "TomoCube has developed second-generation holotomography (HT) technology, maintaining a technological lead of more than five years over its competitors," and added, "The company is expected to be comparable to Park Systems, which achieved significant growth by pioneering new markets with its original technology."
Holotomography is attracting attention as a technology that overcomes the limitations of conventional microscopes by enabling imaging of three-dimensional objects in a label-free, non-destructive manner. Its potential applications are vast, including organoids, new drug development, in vitro fertilization (IVF), in vitro diagnostic devices (IVD), and cell therapies. Researcher Choi emphasized, "With the advancement of AI technology, large-scale and high-speed screening for phenotype-based drug discovery (PDD) has become possible. Although the leading company, Recursion Pharma, has trained on almost all 'microscope data' on Earth, only TomoCube can provide label-free and non-destructive cellular data." TomoCube's market capitalization stands at 256 billion KRW, which is only 8% of Recursion Pharma's 3.152 trillion KRW market capitalization.
TomoCube anticipates a sharp increase in product sales after 2026 and is investing in expanding its production capacity. The company is expanding from a scale capable of producing about 70 units of the HT-X1 product per year to a scale capable of producing 300 units per year. TomoCube also plans to develop and launch new products specialized for the organoid and IVF markets.
A large-scale international event exploring the future of three-dimensional (3D) tumor research and precision treatment using artificial intelligence (AI) was held successfully in Korea. TomoCube's holotomography technology drew attention, which also impacted its stock price. On the previous day, the 'Yonsei·HTAN·SCL·G1's Lab·K-BioX Global Summit 6' was held at Eunmyeong Grand Auditorium, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University.
Park Yongkeun, CEO of TomoCube, who presented the latest technology at the event, stated, "Holotomography allows for the observation of various living biological samples, such as cells, tissues, and organoids, without staining, fixation, or fluorescent proteins, and without causing damage." He added, "It is a technology capable of high-resolution three-dimensional imaging at the 100-nanometer scale." He further introduced holotomography as "a next-generation platform that surpasses the limitations of conventional microscopes and can be applied to various fields, including new drug development, regenerative medicine, and tissue pathology diagnosis."
He predicted, "Just as people commonly ask, 'Have you had a CT scan?', the expression 'Have you had an HT scan?' will naturally become widespread," and added, "There is a high possibility that this technology will become the new standard in the biomedical field."
All data used by HTAN (Human Tumor Atlas Network), which was established in 2018 with support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), is based on TomoCube imaging. There are expectations that TomoCube, a domestically developed holotomography technology, will become an international standard.
HTAN aims to build a three-dimensional map of the structural and molecular characteristics of all human cancer cells. Using thousands of sample cells from six types of cancer?breast, colon, pancreatic, kidney, uterine, and bile duct cancers?it has completed a 3D map.
The research team continues to work on establishing the 3D human tumor cell map as a practically effective cancer treatment system. By applying advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the 3D cancer cell maps constructed from holotomography images, which allow for high-resolution, real-time observation and imaging of living cells without loss or deformation, they are adding the dimension of time to track changes in cancer cells.
It is significant that the research goes beyond image visualization to molecular modeling of cancer cells. Based on millions of molecular modeling maps of cancer cells, AI technology is used to identify cell location information that can maximize therapeutic effects.
Hwang Taehyun, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in the United States who is participating in the research, stated in an interview with an economic daily in March, "Innovative technologies like TomoCube deserve more attention in Korea," and emphasized, "3D cancer research combined with AI will become the core of precision medicine in the future."
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