RZgenomics, a developer of ribonucleic acid (RNA)-based gene therapies, saw its stock price quadruple on its first day of trading on the KOSDAQ market on Friday.
The shares opened at 90,000 won, up 300% from the initial public offering price of 22,500 won, according to Korea Exchange. The company's market capitalization surged to 1.238 trillion won ($910 million) from 309.5 billion won at the IPO price.
The strong debut was widely anticipated during the IPO process. RZgenomics recorded a subscription rate of 848.91-to-1 in its book-building for institutional investors, allowing the company to set its offering price at the top of the indicative range at 22,500 won. Of the 2,229 institutional investors that participated, 1,288 (57.8%) committed to holding shares for at least three months, while 727 institutions (32.6%) pledged to hold for six months or longer.
"Since the IPO system reform in July, institutional investors' lock-up commitment ratios have emerged as an indicator for assessing a company's growth potential," a RZgenomics official said. "This result reflects high recognition of the long-term growth potential of RZgenomics' proprietary RNA editing platform technology and its global commercialization potential."
Founded in 2017, RZgenomics specializes in RNA-based gene therapies, primarily developing anti-cancer drugs and treatments for rare and intractable diseases. The company's pipeline includes RZ-001, a gene therapy candidate targeting liver cancer and glioblastoma, as well as RZ-003 and RZ-004, which aim to treat Alzheimer's disease and retinitis pigmentosa, respectively.
RZgenomics validated its technology in May by signing a licensing agreement worth up to 1.9 trillion won with U.S. pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. The company said multiple global pharmaceutical companies are also reviewing its proprietary drug candidates under development. Interim clinical trial results for the anti-cancer gene therapy RZ-001 are scheduled to be presented at international conferences later this year and in the first half of next year.
