[Market Focus] Abion Hits Upper Limit on License Agreement Signing

As of 9:30 a.m. on June 24, shares of Abion on the KOSDAQ market were trading at 5,850 won, up 29.86% from the previous day's closing price. This surge appears to be due to the company's announcement of a contract worth a total of 1.8 trillion won with a global pharmaceutical company.

On June 24, Abion disclosed that it had signed a joint development and license agreement on June 22 with an unnamed global pharmaceutical company for ABN501, an antibody therapeutic candidate targeting five proteins including CLDN3. The contract is valued at up to $1.315 billion (approximately 1.8 trillion won), including both upfront payments and development and commercialization milestones, and covers the global market. The upfront payment is $5 million per antibody, totaling $25 million (about 34.2 billion won). The contract may be terminated at any stage of research and development, approval, or commercialization at the discretion of the counterparty, and Abion is not obligated to pay any penalty in the event of termination.

Abion will conduct initial preclinical research for ABN501, while the counterparty will be responsible for subsequent clinical trials, regulatory approval, and commercialization. In addition to the compound covered by this agreement, the counterparty has the right of first negotiation for substances targeting, or simultaneously targeting, three other proteins. Therefore, the total contract value may increase, or exclusive negotiations may take place in the future.