inno.N said Thursday that it has signed a contract with Malaysia’s Pharmaniaga Logistics to export its gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) therapy, K-CAB, to the Southeast Asian country.

Under the accord, Pharmaniaga will have the exclusive right to distribute K-caps in Malaysia for five years. The Korean company did not disclose the specific contract amount, citing contractual reasons.

As Pharmaniaga is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia, inno.N expects to rapidly expand the market share of K-CAB through aggressive sales after the product launch.

With the recent contract, the company exports K-CAB to six Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Singapore.

The peptic ulcer agent market in Southeast Asia stood at about $370 million last year. The company stressed it has laid the foundation for entering 98 percent of the market, expanding K-CAB's global sales.

inno.N has introduced K-CAB to 27 countries, and its total export amount has surpassed 1 trillion won ($829.2 million). The drug is in the final stage of approval as a Class 1 new drug in China, and the company expects to launch the drug in the first half of this year.

"With K-Cap's entry into Malaysia, we have completed laying the basis to target the entire Southeast Asian market," a company official said. "As we are scheduled to release the treatment in China, 2022 will be the first year for K-CAB to expand its presence globally."

K-Cab became Korea's 30th novel drug in 2018. It is the first potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) to obtain the indication for EE(Erosive esophagitis) and NERD(Non-erosive reflux disease) GERD in Korea.

According to the company, while conventional treatments, such as proton pump inhibitors (PPI), need three to five days to show efficacy, P-CAB drugs suppress gastric acid secretion in just one hour. P-CAB treatments also inhibit excessive secretion of gastric acid during nighttime, reducing chest pain and a sleep disorder, it said.