À̹ÌÁö È®´ë M2N CEO Kim Sang-won
M2N Company, the new owner of SillaJen Inc., plans to introduce four to five pipelines as part of measures to transform the biotech firm¡¯s vulnerable single asset business structure once acquisition is completed next month.
M2N, a Kosdaq-listed company specializing in steel containers of toxic chemicals, has already secured multiple oncology candidates from U.S. and Korean partners and is on track for technology transfer, the company¡¯s chief executive Kim Sang-won told Maeil Business Newspaper on Monday.
Kim said his priority is to create synergy from cooperation between SillaJen and M2N¡¯s U.S. joint venture Greenfire Bio, which will be responsible for exploring candidate drugs in the U.S. and delivering them to SillaJen for clinical development.
SillaJen¡¯s follow-up cancer therapy JS-600 after its lead investigational product Pexa-Vec is in very early development and GFB can play a role to address pipeline vacuum, Kim said, adding GFB¡¯s newest cancer drug is under review by a reliable technology evaluator in the Netherlands.
GFB, a 50:50 joint venture between M2N and the founder of Nasdaq-listed Nektar, has a pipeline of four cancer drugs which are being evaluated for seven indications including ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer.
M2N¡¯s acquisition of SillaJen aims to build a global clinical development network across Korea and the U.S. by leveraging SillaJen¡¯s oncology research capabilities in oncolytic virus clinical trials.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Pexa-Vec had been in the spotlight as a new oncolytic and immunotherapeutic vaccinia virus, but a phase 3 clinical trial of liver cancer was discontinued after failing to demonstrate statistical significance in the U.S. in August 2019. Amgen¡¯s Imlygic is the only approved oncolytic virus in the world.
Regarding a possible resumption of suspended stock trading of SillaJen, Kim said positive news will follow after M2N¡¯s full payment for its acquisition and new business proposal for SillaJen to stock market operator Korea Exchange. M2N is set to become the largest shareholder of SillaJen with a 20.75 percent stake under a capital increase scheme where it will buy 18.75 million new shares for 60 billion won ($53.7 million) by July 15.
M2N renamed from DKD&I in August last year is chaired by Seo Hong-min, the owner of private lender Leadcorp and a brother-in-law of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon.
Kim, a graduate of Pittsburgh with a master¡¯s degree in business administration, joined M2N in February last year after planning and leading business projects at SK Telecom and SK Planet.
By Kim Byung-ho and Minu Kim
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