Y-Biologics, an antibody-drug development platform company, held a press briefing in Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday, ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) on the Kosdaq market and announced its plans to continue developing antibody drug development through funds secured by the IPO.
In the upcoming listing, Y-Biologics plans to offer 1.5 million shares. The expected price range is between 9,000 and 11,000 won ($7-8.5) per share, and company aims to raise up to 16.5 billion won.
Institutional investor demand forecasts had been slated for a five-day window from last Friday to Thursday this week, and the company plans to receive subscriptions from retail investors from Nov. 23-24. Yuanta Securities is the lead underwriter and the company is expected to be listed on Kosdaq on Dec. 5,
Yuanta Securities will provide a put-back option to retail investors.
This option allows investors who have been allocated shares through the IPO to sell their shares back to the lead underwriter if the share price falls below 90 percent of the offering price within a certain period after listing.
Founded in 2007, Y-Biologics discovers and develops various new drug candidates based on its antibody discovery platform.
This platform is centered around its fully human antibody library Ymax-ABL and the T-cell bispecific antibody platform ALiCE.
The company has also recently succeeded in establishing an advanced antibody discovery technologies such as Ymax-ENGENE and pH-sensitive antibody discovery techniques.
Their key pipeline includes the anti-PD-1 antibody immunotherapy candidate YBL-006, which recently completed successful Phase 1/2a multinational clinical trials, YBL-013, the T-cell bispecific antibody immunotherapy, and AR062, monoclonal antibody, which all target solid cancers.
Through the IPO, Y-Biologics plans to accelerate the transfer of existing pipeline technologies and the discovery of new pipelines.
Y-Biologics has so far successfully transferred five technologies and has proven its commercialization capabilities by conducting twelve joint developments.
Notable deals include a license out agreement for new monoclonal and bispecific antibody candidates to France's Pierre Fabre and China's 3D Medicines.
The company also co-developed an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidate with LegoChem Biosciences, which was transferred to Pyxis Oncology, a U.S. biotech.
"Based on our antibody discovery platform, we will continue to discover excellent antibodies that are the key components of various biopharmaceuticals," Y-Biologics Co-CEO Park Young-woo said. "We plan on becoming a model of a steadily growing specialized antibody new drug company through continuous technology transfers and partnership expansions."