"The Phase 3 trial of cevidoplenib, which recently succeeded in a tech transfer worth 1 trillion won, is expected to be entered by our partner Agios next year."
Yoon Tae-young, CEO of Oscotec (039200), made the remarks at a tech transfer briefing held at the KOSDAQ Association in Seoul on Wednesday, saying, "We will accelerate the clinical trials and commercialization of our drug candidates." He also stressed, "We will focus on developing follow-up pipelines such as anti-resistance cancer drugs and work to achieve additional tech transfer results within the next three years."
On the 1st of this month, Oscotec signed a tech transfer agreement worth a total of $665 million (about 1 trillion won) with U.S.-based Agios for cevidoplenib, an oral autoimmune disease treatment. The deal includes a non-refundable upfront payment of $25 million (about 37.5 billion won) and milestone payments tied to development, approval, and commercialization stages. Revenue from the contract will be split between Oscotec and its subsidiary Genosco at a 75-to-25 ratio.
Cevidoplenib, jointly developed by Oscotec and Genosco, is an oral small-molecule drug candidate that selectively inhibits SYK (spleen tyrosine kinase), a protein overexpressed in immune cells. Oscotec previously completed global Phase 2 trials targeting immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and rheumatoid arthritis. "Agios will enter Phase 3 trials for the ITP indication within a year and a half," Yoon said. "As it is a treatment for a rare disease, the trial scale is not large, so we expect approval and commercialization could be possible before 2030."
A notable feature of this contract is that it includes the right to expand the scope of development to up to three indications beyond ITP. Agios is expected to also pursue Phase 2 trials to expand indications. "We wanted a tech transfer partner that could quickly expand the market after the ITP treatment is approved," Yoon said. "Agios was the most suitable partner given its strong commitment to developing additional indications."
With this contract, Oscotec has secured a total of three global tech transfer achievements. First, as the original developer of the non-small cell lung cancer treatment lazertinib, which Yuhan Corporation transferred to Janssen, it receives sales royalties from commercialization. Late last year, it transferred ADEL-Y01, an Alzheimer's treatment jointly developed with Adel, to Sanofi.
Oscotec plans to reinvest the revenue from the tech transfer into developing next-generation pipelines. Its major follow-up pipelines include OCT-598, an anti-resistance cancer drug currently in Phase 1 trials, and GNS-3545, a pulmonary fibrosis treatment from Genosco. "Over the next two to three years, we will focus on developing anti-resistance cancer drugs and fibrotic disease pipelines based on them," Yoon said. "Before 2030, we plan to expand beyond small-molecule drugs into new modalities."
Meanwhile, Oscotec is also reviewing options including making Genosco a wholly owned subsidiary or merging with it. While it experienced conflict with some shareholders over the push for a listing, it recently revised its strategy. At this year's regular shareholders' meeting, it converted some candidates recommended by a minority shareholders' coalition into board-recommended candidates and appointed them. As of the first quarter of this year, Oscotec held a 59.3% stake in Genosco. Shin Dong-jun, Oscotec's chief financial officer (CFO), explained, "Since a fair corporate valuation is paramount for a merger, we will review the appropriate timing and approach while communicating sufficiently with shareholders."
