[Public Notice+] KainosMed Approves SPAC Merger... "KM-819 Indication Expansion and Value Enhancement Begin in Earnest"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Kainosmed, a company developing central nervous system (CNS) drugs, announced through a public disclosure on the 16th that the merger proposal with Hana Financial No.11 SPAC was approved at the shareholders' meeting held on the same day.

With the merger also approved at the Hana Financial No.11 SPAC shareholders' meeting held on the same day, Kainosmed, a KONEX-listed company, will transfer its listing to the KOSDAQ market in early June. This is expected to accelerate efforts to enhance the value of KM-819, a Parkinson's disease treatment currently under development.

The merger price between Kainosmed and Hana Financial No.11 SPAC is KRW 13,800 and KRW 2,000 respectively, with a merger ratio of 6.9 to 1. The merger date is scheduled for the 19th of next month. After the merger, the total number of issued shares will be 102,774,558 shares (planned), and the listing date of the new shares is set for June 8.

Kainosmed has been actively advancing the Phase 2 clinical trial process in the U.S., having applied last month for a Pre-IND meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding KM-819 for Parkinson's disease.

KM-819 has demonstrated neuroprotective effects and improvement in behavioral impairment symptoms in animal models induced with Parkinson's disease, indicating its potential as a Parkinson's disease treatment. In March 2018, Kainosmed successfully completed Phase 1 clinical trials in Korea, confirming safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic properties.

Notably, the company conducted Phase 1 trials in accordance with U.S. FDA standards to facilitate global market entry. The Phase 1 trial was conducted with the global contract research organization (CRO) Parexel, and the Phase 2 clinical trial plan has been virtually completed in collaboration with Dr. Carolyn Ballow, an authority in Parkinson's disease clinical development. Currently, efforts are underway to submit the IND application for Phase 2 clinical trials following the Pre-IND meeting.

Additionally, Kainosmed plans to increase the value of KM-819 by expanding its indications to multiple system atrophy (MSA), a movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease. MSA progresses rapidly and is an incurable disease for which Parkinson's treatments are largely ineffective. The life expectancy is only about 5 to 7 years.

The company aims to enter Phase 2 clinical trials domestically in the second half of this year and plans to allocate part of the SPAC merger funds to the clinical development of MSA. Since MSA is a rare disease, conditional approval after Phase 2 completion is also anticipated.

A Kainosmed representative stated, "Looking at global cases of technology transfer for Parkinson's disease treatments, the scale of technology transfer for substances being developed for both Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy treatments was significant. Kainosmed is also expanding indications to synucleinopathies such as multiple system atrophy as well as Parkinson's disease, so we expect the license-out scale to be substantial in the future."

Meanwhile, the Phase 3 clinical trial of the AIDS treatment (KM-023), which Kainosmed licensed to a Chinese pharmaceutical company, is expected to be completed in the first half of this year. The company also plans to enter emerging markets such as India along with royalty revenue from sales in China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.