Four US-based biotech ventures founded by Korean scientists are pursuing technology-based special listings on KOSDAQ. Instead of directly listing their US corporate shares, they plan to enter the Korean stock market by issuing Korean Depositary Receipts (KDRs). If Ingenia Therapeutics lists through a public subscription later this month, it would mark the first KOSDAQ listing of an overseas-based biotech firm in five years, since NeoImmuneTech in 2021.
According to industry sources on the 9th, US-based drug development companies including Ingenia Therapeutics, BreezeBio, Pinetree Therapeutics and Kyzen are preparing for KOSDAQ listings through KDR issuance. These are US corporations founded by Korean scientists in major US biotech clusters such as Boston, Cambridge and San Francisco, and all are unlisted companies.
These firms are pursuing technology-based special listings on the back of technology transfer achievements with global pharmaceutical companies or major Korean corporations. Ingenia Therapeutics licensed out its retinal disease treatment candidate "IGT-427" to Britain's iBio for up to 1 trillion won. iBio was acquired by MSD in 2024. BreezeBio signed a 970 billion won drug development deal in the immune modulation field with Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche, in 2024. Pinetree Therapeutics also licensed out a targeted protein degradation (TPD) drug candidate to AstraZeneca for about 820 billion won the same year. Kyzen signed a 1.12 trillion won technology transfer agreement for an autoimmune disease drug candidate with Celltrion last year.
The listings will be carried out through KDR issuance. Under this method, shares of an overseas company are deposited with a local custodian, and receipts exchangeable for those shares at a set ratio are issued and circulated domestically. Foreign companies use KDRs when listing in Korea due to differences in legal systems and trading structures between countries. "This is because when a company established under local law directly lists its underlying shares on the domestic market, it could clash with Korea's commercial law and capital markets law framework," an industry official said. Previously, overseas-based biotech firms such as Kolon TissueGene, Psomagen, Prestige Biopharma and NeoImmuneTech also listed on KOSDAQ through the KDR method.
