April 23, 2024

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South Korean bio company OliPass is preparing to go public by the end of the year, according to sources on April 23.

Preparing to start the initial public offering process, the company has picked Mirae Asset Daewoo and Kium Securities as IPO managers.

 

According to sources, OliPass will file for preliminary screening at the Korea Exchange on April 22. The company plans to apply under the special standards of the bourse operator, which allows the listing of promising companies that have not yet posted significant profits.

The company has platform technology to develop RNA interference-based therapy, which can suppress the production of disease-causing protein. Its new drug RNA interference-based non-opioid analgesics is currently preparing to apply for phase 1 clinical trial in Europe.

OliPass is known for signing a license-out deal in 2014 with US-based pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb. At the time the company’s market value soared to around 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion). However, the deal was canceled a year later, which led to a fall in its market value.

Despite this incident, the company managed to raise its market value by proving the value of its technology to experts here. Its current market value is around 600 billion won, the highest among local bio companies not listed on the secondary Kosdaq. Moreover, at the end of 2017, the company secured 35 billion won in funds from investors, including SV Investment and Mirae Asset Venture.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)