KPM Tech Secures Priority Negotiation Rights for Domestic Licensing of Humanigen COVID-19 Treatment

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] The KPM consortium is moving to secure domestic distribution rights for a novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) treatment currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials.

KPM Tech announced on the 8th that it has obtained the exclusive negotiation rights to acquire the domestic distribution rights for Humanigen's COVID-19 treatment. The exclusive negotiation rights are valid for the next four months and cover negotiations not only for the COVID-19 treatment but also for other pipelines owned by Humanigen.

A company official explained, "Humanigen's COVID-19 treatment received approval from the U.S. FDA for clinical drug use under the Compassionate Use Program and has begun clinical trials," adding, "We expect results to come out quickly."

He continued, "After securing domestic distribution rights, we plan to discuss expanding distribution rights to other regions such as Asia."

KPM Tech formed a consortium with Telcon RF Pharmaceutical and invested 4.9 billion KRW in Humanigen on the 2nd. Humanigen is a cell and gene therapy development company, with its main pipeline being Lenzilumab. The COVID-19 treatment currently in clinical trials is also being developed using Lenzilumab.

Lenzilumab is undergoing Phase 1b and 2 combination therapy clinical trials with Yescarta, an immune cell therapy from Kite, a subsidiary of U.S. Gilead Sciences. It is also in Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials as a prevention and treatment for acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), and Phase 2 combination clinical trials for chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) are underway.

Humanigen is preparing for a stock market listing within this year. JP Morgan, which recently underwrote Humanigen's public offering, is expected to lead the listing.

In the recent public offering, well-known bio and healthcare specialized investment institutions such as Venrock Healthcare Capital, Surveyor Capital, and HealthCor participated with an investment of approximately 72 million USD. According to a company official, the investment institutions participated on the condition of Humanigen's listing efforts.

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