November 27, 2024

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(SK Biopharmaceuticals)

SK Group’s pharmaceutical arm, SK Biopharmaceuticals, said Friday that it has decided to acquire a 60 percent stake, or 40 million shares, in US biotech company Proteovant Therapeutics for 62 billion won ($47 million).

This deal size is equivalent to 19.6 percent of the Korean company’s total equity capital.

Established in New York in 2021, Proteovant Sciences is a 60:40 joint venture between Swiss biotech company Roivant Sciences and SK Group.

SK Biopharmaceuticals expects that the transaction will help the firm to secure targeted protein degradation technology to treat patients with debilitating diseases like cancer.

Targeted protein degradation refers to an emerging drug discovery process that can potentially be used to treat infectious diseases. Essentially, the process selectively eradicates disease-causing proteins from cells by using small molecules called degraders or proteolysis-targeting chimeras to redirect the cell's natural protein degradation machinery to target those problem proteins.

Lee Dong-hoon, the current CEO of SK Biopharmaceuticals, was directly involved in the establishment of Proteovant Therapeutics during his tenure as the head of SK Bio Investment Center.

By Yu Ji-soo (jisooyu123@heraldcorp.com)