MedPacto said on Thursday it is seeking initial public offering (IPO) in the local market under a special rule enabling money-losing yet promising startups to go public.

The Korean biomarker-based anti-cancer drug developer said it has started an official process to go public on the Kosdaq market by completing its document filing, hoping to raise maximum 65 billion won ($56.3 million) by offering more than 1.5 million shares in the IPO to be managed by Samsung Securities. Its IPO price band is set between 34,000 won and 43,000 won apiece.

The IPO will be priced during a book-building session due on Dec. 5-6. Public subscriptions will take place on Dec. 10-11, and listing is scheduled within this year.

Founded in 2013 in affiliation with Kosdaq-listed Theragen Etexas, MedPacto is a genome-based drug discovery and early clinical development company with an aim of bringing innovative therapies to those dealing with cancer and autoimmune disorders. A biomarker is a measurable indicator of the severity or presence of disease, some other physiological state of the body, or compliance with specific therapies.

Pharmaceutical companies in the world turn their eyes to biomarker-based novel drugs as existing anticancer drugs have limitations due to low efficacy, resistance, and serious side effects, while there are continued advances in the use of biomarkers to ensure more targeted delivery of medicine. Merck’s Keytruda, Riche’s Rozlytrek and Loxo Oncology’s Vitrakvi are a few example drugs that use biomarkers to find out patients who can be most benefited.

MedPacto’s investigational drug Vactosertib blocks the TGF-β signaling pathway by inhibiting phosphorylation of TGF-β receptor I. This oral selective TGFBRI drug not only inhibits cancer cell growth and metastasis, but also shows synergistic effects in combination with chemotherapy, the company said. Due to significance of TGF-β signaling in cancer, Vactosertib has the potential to be used as an anti-cancer drug for all kinds of human tumors.

MedPacto is conducting phase 2 clinical trials with Merck and AstraZeneca based on promising phase 1 clinical trial results.

MedPacto said it results of a study to evaluate Vactosertib in combination with Keytruda and Imfinzi will be presented at Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2019) scheduled to take place until Nov. 11 in the U.S.

By Pulse

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