Panagen Changes Company Name to 'HLB Panagen'... Appoints Jang In-geun as CEO

Jang In-geun, New CEO of HLB Panagen
[Photo by HLB Panagen]

Molecular diagnostics company Panagen, which joined the HLB Group, has changed its name to HLB Panagen and appointed Jang In-geun, head of HLB's Bio Strategy Planning Division, as the new CEO.

On the 3rd, Panagen held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and announced that the agenda items, including the name change to HLB Panagen, the appointment of CEO Jang In-geun, and the appointment of internal and external directors and a full-time auditor, were all approved as originally proposed.

New CEO Jang In-geun earned a master's degree in chemical engineering from Dongguk University Graduate School and a doctorate in biomedical sciences from Ajou University Graduate School. In 2003, he joined Life Code, the predecessor of HLB, as a researcher at the medical research institute, leading the development of cell therapies and medical devices. Since 2013, he has been responsible for establishing clinical plans and indication expansion strategies for 'Livo-cera-nib,' a targeted anticancer drug that is a core asset of HLB.

In particular, while serving as head of HLB's Bio Strategy Planning Division, he led the development strategy for the entire new drug pipeline, including U.S. subsidiaries Eleva Therapeutics, Immunomic Therapeutics, and Verismo Therapeutics, and also spearheaded the establishment of a technology cooperation system within the group through the 'HLB Bio Ecosystem (HBS)'.

HLB Panagen has secured platform technology capable of mass-producing artificial genetic material peptide nucleic acids (PNA) and has succeeded in developing various molecular diagnostic reagents targeting various infectious diseases as well as cancer mutations such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), KRAS, and BRAF through this platform. Recently, as Yuhan Corporation's EGFR mutation non-small cell lung cancer treatment 'Rekaza' (generic name: Lazertinib) expanded its use as a first-line treatment, it was also approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as an 'original companion diagnostic' device.

New CEO Jang said, “HLB Panagen possesses globally unique PNA technology and a specialized product line based on liquid biopsy, but has mainly focused on the domestic diagnostic market so far. Having joined the HLB Group, we have secured abundant liquidity amounting to 80 billion KRW and can utilize the global networks of several U.S. subsidiaries. Going forward, we will actively pursue global diagnostic business expansion as well as new drug development using PNA.”

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