[IPO] Shaperon "Developing Innovative Anti-Inflammatory Treatment to Replace 110 Trillion Steroids"

On the 21st, Sung Seung-yong, CEO of Shaperon, held a press conference in Yeouido, Seoul, to introduce the company ahead of its KOSDAQ listing. / Photo by Shaperon

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] “We will develop an innovative anti-inflammatory treatment that can replace steroids, which can only be used short-term due to severe side effects, and target the inflammation market worth 110 trillion KRW.”

On the 21st, Sung Seung-yong, CEO of Shaperon, held a press conference in Yeouido, Seoul, for a technology-specialized KOSDAQ listing and made this announcement.

Shaperon was established in October 2008 based on the world’s first inflammation initiation theory, DAMP (Damage Associated Molecular Patterns), published by co-CEO Sung Seung-yong, a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine, in Nature Review Immunology in 2004.

Based on proprietary inflammasome inhibition technology, the company is developing innovative anti-inflammatory treatments for inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis, Alzheimer’s dementia, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and COVID-19. Additionally, leveraging nanobody platform technology, which is gaining attention as next-generation drug technology, Shaperon is developing innovative nanobody antibody therapies such as nanobody-bispecific antibody immuno-oncology drug (Papiliximab) and nanobody-mRNA therapeutics.

The main pipelines include an atopic dermatitis treatment currently in Phase 2 clinical trials in Korea, an Alzheimer’s dementia treatment preparing for Phase 1 trials, an idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment that has completed preclinical studies, and a COVID-19 pneumonia treatment undergoing multinational Phase 2b/3 trials with 9.1 billion KRW in clinical development funding from the National New Drug Development Foundation.

The Alzheimer’s dementia treatment completed preclinical studies and was licensed to Kukjeon Pharmaceuticals in March last year. The idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treatment was globally licensed to Bridge Biotherapeutics in April this year. With the upfront payments from these deals, the company recorded its first revenue of 523 million KRW last year and generated 2 billion KRW in sales in the first half of this year.

A Shaperon representative stated, “The atopic dermatitis treatment currently in Phase 2 clinical trials in Korea is under discussion for technology transfer with global pharmaceutical companies. To this end, we plan to conduct clinical trials in the U.S. early next year to accumulate data.”

Furthermore, Shaperon is applying nanobody technology, which reduces the size of existing antibody therapeutics to one-tenth, facilitating the development of various formulations and overcoming the drawbacks of conventional antibody therapies with high stability, to develop next-generation immuno-oncology drugs. The company is one of the few worldwide that owns a full-cycle platform for research by producing nanobody antibodies targeting various antigens from alpacas housed at its Hongcheon research center.

Shaperon plans to raise approximately 21.9 billion KRW through this listing, of which 19 billion KRW will be used for clinical trial costs this year and next. The remainder will be allocated to personnel expenses and other operating funds.

CEO Sung Seung-yong said, “Shaperon gathers top-level domestic experts dedicated to developing new drug pipelines. After listing, we will leap forward as a leading company in the inflammatory disease treatment field through technology transfers with leading bio companies, joint research with global leading pharmaceutical companies, and development of next-generation inflammasome inhibitors with enhanced efficacy and safety.”

Meanwhile, Shaperon’s total public offering shares consist of 2,747,000 new shares, with a desired price band of 8,200 to 10,200 KRW per share. The company expects to raise up to 28 billion KRW through this offering. Demand forecasting for institutional investors will be conducted on the 29th and 30th, with the final offering price to be confirmed. Subscription will take place on October 6th and 7th, followed by a KOSDAQ listing in October. The listing is underwritten by NH Investment & Securities.

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