Daewoong Pharmaceutical said on Monday it has sold treasury stocks worth 30 billion won ($24 million) to finance M&As and development of promising drugs. The treasury stocks sold to its holding company Daewoong Co. account for 3.9 percent in Daewoong Pharm’s outstanding shares.

Daewoong Co. made the payment using a cash dividend from unlisted Daewoong Bio that reported its best business performance last year.

Daewoong Pharm will spend 10 billion won buying shares of HanAll Biopharma, one of its subsidiary, and the remaining for its R&D pipeline, which includes highly anticipated Fexuprazan, a gastroesophageal reflux disease med, an investigative anti-fibrosis drug designated as an orphan drug by the FDA, and other first-in-class therapeutics. In 2015, Daewoong Pharm acquired a 30 percent stake in HanAll Biopharma.

In 2017, HanAll Biopharma signed a licensing deal with Switzerland-based Roivant Sciences over its anti-FcRn monoclonal antibody HL161 for the treatment of autoimmune diseases for $502.5 million.

HanAll also sold rights to HL161 and its anti-TNF ophthalmic solution HL036 to Shanghai-based Harbour BioMed for $81 million to develop, manufacture and commercialize them in mainland China.

At 2:50 pm on Tuesday, shares of Daewoong Co. zoomed nearly 25 percent to trade at 8,650 won and Daewoong Co. gained 8.25 percent, 73,500 won. HanAll Biopharma shares soared 14 percent to trade at 17,550 won.

By Pulse

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