Shaperon said it would strive to be a leader in autoimmune disease treatment by going public on the Kosdaq market in October.
Shaperon started as a Seoul National University venture in 2008 based on the world's first inflammation initiation theory, DAMP (Damage Associated Molecular Patterns), discovered by its Co-CEO Seong Seung-yong.
The company is using Seong’s theory in developing drugs to treat inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis, Alzheimer's disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and Covid-19.
In a planned initial public offering (IPO) in October, the company plans to offer 2,747,000 depository receipts at the offering price of 8,200 won to 10,200 won ($5.88-7.31) per share to raise a maximum of 28 billion won.
It will finalize the offering price after estimating institutional investors' demands from Sept. 29-30 and receiving general subscriptions from Oct. 6-7, and go public before the end of October.
"Using the funds raised through the IPO, the company plans to strengthen its competitiveness through global clinical development of its major pipelines and continue research and development to discover new pipelines," Seong said during a news conference ahead of the company's IPO. "The company also intends to focus on securing excellent researchers and facilities and promoting global commercialization."
The company will invest about 19 billion won raised through IPO in clinical research, Seong added.
Shaperon Co-CEO Lee Myung-sea also said, "After listing, we will become a leading company in the treatment of inflammatory diseases through licensing agreements with leading biotech companies, joint research with global pharmaceutical companies, and the development of next-generation inflammatory complex inhibitors with improved efficacy and safety."
Lee stressed that Shaperon has already succeeded in licensing out two of its major pipelines so far.
The company licensed out its Alzheimer's treatment candidate to Kukjeon Pharmaceutical in March 2021, and its idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment candidate to Bridge Biotherapeutics in April 2022.