HLB Science, a subsidiary of HLB Global, listed on the tertiary stock market Konex, said that it has selected Shinhan Investment Corp. as the lead manager for its moving to the secondary bourse, Kosdaq.

The company is a peptide-based new drug development company established in 2016 by Professor Park Young-min of the Department of Immunology at Konkuk University School of Medical. It develops a sepsis treatment candidate (DD-S052) and an Alzheimer's disease treatment candidate (DD-A279) as first-in-class new drugs.

DD-S502 is a new-concept treatment with a dual mechanism of action that directly kills the super bacteria, the cause of sepsis, and suppresses the cytokine storm by removing endotoxin derived from gram-negative bacteria. The company plans to conduct phase 1 clinical trials in France in mid-April.

HLB Science aims to maximize corporate value and expand clinical trials globally by licensing the candidate to multinational pharmaceutical companies.

The main cause of sepsis is infection by microorganisms, and many patients die from excessive inflammatory immune response and subsequent immune paralysis," HLB Science CEO Park said. "Whereas existing antibiotics only remove the causative bacteria, DD-S052 will dramatically increase the survival rate by removing the bacteria causing sepsis and neutralizing the endotoxin released by the causative bacteria."

The company will repay the support and expectations of its shareholders by successfully entering the phase 1 clinical trial in France this year, listing on the KOSDAQ in the second half of next year, and licensing out the candidate soon, Park added.