SillaJen's new owner M2N plans to move fast to bolster pipelines

M2N CEO Kim Sang-won

M2N Company, the new owner of SillaJen Inc., plans to introduce four to five pipelines as part of measures to transform the biotech firm’s vulnerable single asset business structure once acquisition is completed next month.

M2N, a Kosdaq-listed company specializing in steel containers of toxic chemicals, has already secured multiple oncology candidates from U.S. and Korean partners and is on track for technology transfer, the company’s chief executive Kim Sang-won told Maeil Business Newspaper on Monday.

Kim said his priority is to create synergy from cooperation between SillaJen and M2N’s U.S. joint venture Greenfire Bio, which will be responsible for exploring candidate drugs in the U.S. and delivering them to SillaJen for clinical development.

SillaJen’s follow-up cancer therapy JS-600 after its lead investigational product Pexa-Vec is in very early development and GFB can play a role to address pipeline vacuum, Kim said, adding GFB’s newest cancer drug is under review by a reliable technology evaluator in the Netherlands.

GFB, a 50:50 joint venture between M2N and the founder of Nasdaq-listed Nektar, has a pipeline of four cancer drugs which are being evaluated for seven indications including ovarian cancer and triple-negative breast cancer.

M2N’s acquisition of SillaJen aims to build a global clinical development network across Korea and the U.S. by leveraging SillaJen’s oncology research capabilities in oncolytic virus clinical trials.

Pexa-Vec had been in the spotlight as a new oncolytic and immunotherapeutic vaccinia virus, but a phase 3 clinical trial of liver cancer was discontinued after failing to demonstrate statistical significance in the U.S. in August 2019. Amgen’s Imlygic is the only approved oncolytic virus in the world.

Regarding a possible resumption of suspended stock trading of SillaJen, Kim said positive news will follow after M2N’s full payment for its acquisition and new business proposal for SillaJen to stock market operator Korea Exchange. M2N is set to become the largest shareholder of SillaJen with a 20.75 percent stake under a capital increase scheme where it will buy 18.75 million new shares for 60 billion won ($53.7 million) by July 15.

M2N renamed from DKD&I in August last year is chaired by Seo Hong-min, the owner of private lender Leadcorp and a brother-in-law of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon.

Kim, a graduate of Pittsburgh with a master’s degree in business administration, joined M2N in February last year after planning and leading business projects at SK Telecom and SK Planet.

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