Wellmarker Bio targets top 50 global ranking with 9 drug candidates, IPO file this year

Wellmarker Bio aims to develop a blockbuster cancer drug within the decade out of its pipeline of nine candidates targeting a wide range of tumors, becoming one of the world’s top 50 biopharmas, the company’s chief executive Jin Dong-hoon told Maeil Business Newspaper in a recent interview.

Wellmarker Bio, established as first in-house startup of Asan Medical Center in Dec. 2016, has built a pipeline of nine precision drugs based on biomarkers that can predict which patients are most likely to respond to treatment.

With the use of biomarkers, drug development can be accelerated from initial clinical trials to market launch as the probability of regulatory approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for each development stage can rise by three times, Jin said.

Biomarkers can indicate whether a patient will benefit from a particular drug in advance, contributing to more effective and affordable treatment.

Wellmarker Bio chief executive Jin Dong-hoon

Wellmarker Bio has a distinguished track record of drug research and development. Its colorectal cancer drug recently entered a Phase 1a clinical trial in Australia with a lung cancer drug now in a preclinical stage. It also completed state research projects with Korea Drug Development Fund three times and received the designation by the science ministry as Advanced Technology Center. It recently finished series C funding successfully.

The colorectal cancer drug is under a Phase 1a clinical trial with a focus on safety evaluation in Australia, and the study is due to be completed in the second half of this year. A Phase 1b study is being prepared to evaluate the drug in the treatment of bile duct cancer, pancreatic cancer, head and neck cancer, and lung cancer, Jin said.

Wellmarker Bio plans to submit an application in June to get technology evaluation to go public on the Kosdaq. It expects to file for a preliminary IPO review in the second half of this year based on the evaluation. The company’s primary goal is to ink two to three agreements to license out its candidate drugs to global pharmaceutical companies after the IPO.

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