Korea Development Bank Invests Additional 20 Billion KRW in Alzheimer's Disease New Drug Development Venture Company

Launched in May 2019 as Korea's First Finance-Led 'Alzheimer Open Innovation Alliance'
Promoting New Drug Development through Timely and Continuous Investment in Bio Venture Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] The Korea Development Bank announced on the 3rd that it has made an additional follow-on investment of 20 billion KRW in Amyloid Solution, a bio venture company developing treatments for Alzheimer's disease, following an initial investment of 10 billion KRW in March 2020.

Amyloid Solution is a bio venture company promoting open innovation with pharmaceutical companies, universities, and research institutions to develop new drugs for Alzheimer's disease based on various hypotheses.

A representative from the Korea Development Bank explained, "This investment is significant as it provides large-scale clinical funding necessary for the development of Alzheimer's disease treatments through active follow-on investment amid the recent challenging financial market conditions for bio venture companies to attract investment."

To promote the development of new drugs and diagnostic technologies for Alzheimer's disease, the Korea Development Bank formed the "Alzheimer's Open Innovation Alliance" in May 2019 and successfully held the "Alzheimer's Alliance Forum 2019" in October of the same year together with the Korea Bio Association and the Korean Society for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Developing a fundamental treatment for Alzheimer's disease requires continuous investment looking ahead 10 years or more. Due to the complexity of the disease, it is difficult for a single company or research team to conquer it alone, making collaboration through open innovation essential.

Since 2019, various collaborations among participants in open innovation have taken place, and a total investment of 316.6 billion KRW (128 billion KRW from the Korea Development Bank) has been made in 12 promising bio venture companies.

The 12 bio venture companies that received investments are developing 23 new drug pipelines and diagnostic technologies related to central nervous system diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The Korea Development Bank plans to induce new investments of 1 trillion KRW (300 billion KRW from the bank) in promising bio venture companies related to central nervous system diseases by 2030, and to support joint research and development among companies as well as overseas expansion.

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