KoBioLabs said on Thursday it terminated the technology transfer agreement with Kolmar Korea Holdings for two immune-modulating drug candidates, KBL382 and KBL1027.

Accordingly, Kolmar Korea Holdings will return the global clinical development, licensing, and commercialization rights of the two immune disease drug candidates which were previously transferred in November 2020, to KoBioLabs.

In a public filing on Thursday, KoBioLabs explained that the termination decision reflected its intention to promote the rapid development of KBL382 and an internal business strategy change at Kolmar Korea Holdings. 

KoBioLabs said it will not return the upfront payment of 2 billion won ($1.52 million) and hold rights to additional non-clinical research and manufacturing resources acquired by Kolmar Korea Holdings.

In particular, KBL 382 is a microbiome drug candidate derived from KoBioLab's Smartiome technology, which possesses a high safety profile derived from human resident bacteria.

“As the drug has not yet entered clinical trials, the specific indications have not yet been decided but it has demonstrated outstanding efficacy in various immune disease models including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and atopic dermatitis (AD),” said an official from KoBioLabs.

In particular, the company identified synergistic effects in animal models of IBD, both as a monotherapy and combination therapy with the monoclonal antibody treatment, infliximab, with the potential to treat mild to severe disorders.     

KoBioLabs also added that it plans to establish its own clinical development for KBL382 and engage with new partners to quickly commercialize the microbiome drug.