Future Medicine Secures 6.25 Billion KRW in Pre-IPO Funding to Accelerate NASH Clinical Trials

Future Medicine (CEO Jung Nak-shin and Jung Wan-seok), preparing for a transfer listing to KOSDAQ, announced on the 24th that it has decided on a third-party allotment capital increase worth 1.75 billion KRW.

The company has conducted a total of three Pre-IPO rounds this year, raising a total of 6.25 billion KRW. The proceeds from the capital increase will be used for clinical trials of the non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) treatment and preclinical research of the follow-up pipeline, the targeted anticancer drug (FM301).

This Pre-IPO was conducted entirely with common shares. Bio-specialized VC LSK Investment invested 2 billion KRW, and a private equity fund jointly operated by Magna Investment and Dreamstone Private Equity invested 1.35 billion KRW. Existing investor Wooshin Venture Investment also participated in the capital increase. This is judged to reflect a high evaluation of Future Medicine’s listing potential and the success possibility of the NASH clinical trial.

Future Medicine’s main pipeline, FM101, is an anti-inflammatory/anti-fibrotic therapeutic targeting non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This disease currently has no approved treatments, and according to reports such as Deutsche Bank, the market size is expected to grow to 40 trillion KRW by 2026.

Future Medicine is accelerating the development of FM101, a NASH treatment currently in Phase 2 clinical trials. FM101 has demonstrated efficacy in NASH by antagonizing adenosine receptors to reduce inflammation and fibrosis. Phase 2 trials are progressing smoothly at 12 institutions in Europe and 9 institutions in Korea.

A company representative emphasized, "At a time when interest in NASH treatments is higher than ever, we are doing our best in research with a strategy to accelerate clinical trials and secure technology transfers and global partners early."

Although global pharmaceutical companies have already made intensive investments and developments in NASH treatments, repeated clinical failures have made new drug development uncertain until recently. Multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Gilead Sciences and Genfit conducted Phase 3 trials but failed to prove efficacy, and Intercept’s Ocaliva was officially rejected by the FDA for NASH drug approval in June this year.

Meanwhile, US biotech Madrigal Pharmaceuticals raised hopes for the first NASH treatment approval by announcing positive Phase 3 clinical trial results for its NASH treatment candidate, Resmetirom, at the end of last year. Following this, Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ market capitalization soared sixfold (approximately 6 trillion KRW as of early this year). Other companies with different mechanisms, such as 89Bio (market cap 1.5 trillion KRW) and Viking Therapeutics (market cap 2.3 trillion KRW), which are in Phase 2 clinical trials for NASH treatments, are also attracting industry attention. In Korea, Future Medicine and Hanmi Pharmaceutical are conducting global Phase 2 clinical trials for NASH treatments.

Future Medicine is a KONEX-listed company pursuing a transfer listing to KOSDAQ. To this end, it underwent a technology evaluation in July and received A grades from two institutions, and is currently preparing for a preliminary review application. The company possesses the drug candidate discovery platform FOCUS™ and, based on this, is a technology-driven bio venture developing multiple anticancer drugs and broad-spectrum antiviral agents, including FM301, in addition to the NASH treatment FM101.

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