The listing of pharmaceutical and biotech companies on the KOSDAQ market will continue this month.

According to the Korea Exchange, four companies in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry plan to go public on the tech-heavy stock market this month. They are Enzychem Lifesciences, Arlico Pharm, Dongkoo Bio & Pharma, and Osteonic.

Arlico Pharm will have the initial public offering on Monday, the earliest among the four.

Established in 1992, Arlico Pharm has focused on generic prescription drugs. The company serves as a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) for local drugmakers such as Chong Kun Dang and GC Pharma.

Arlico Pharm’s public offering price will be 12,000 won ($11.04) per share with the target offer amount set at 28.2 billion won ($26 million). The subscription rate was 692.77 to 1. IBK Investment & Securities manages Arlico’s listing.

Arlico Pharm posted 48.12 billion won in sales, and 2.24 billion won in net profit in 2016.

On Tuesday, Dongkoo Bio & Pharma plans to complete the KOSDAQ listing.

Considered one of the most prospective shares on KOSDAQ, Dongkoo Bio & Pharma is a leading manufacturer of prescription drugs in dermatology and urology. The company recently revealed its business plans for new drug development in an investor relations presentation.

Although the company’s focus is on generic drugs and stem cell-based cosmetics as a CMO, the company recently unveiled its pipelines for sexual dysfunction treatments. Highly expected demand for such medicines raised the subscription rate to 727.70 to 1. Dongkoo Bio & Pharma’s offering price is 16,000 won per share, and the face value is 500 won per share.

Enzychem Lifesciences, one of the leading shares on the tertiary KONEX market, will move to KOSDAQ on Feb. 21. The offering price is 56,000 won per share, and the subscription rate is 259 to 1, with 518 institutional investors participating in the IPO.

Enzychem Lifesciences plans to secure 43.1 billion won cash through the upcoming IPO and expand R&D and investment in facilities until next year. The company will put extra effort on clinical trials of neutropenia and oral mucositis treatments to aim a market entry into the U.S.

Osteonic, an orthopedic implant business operator, will go public on Feb. 22.

In recent public offer subscriptions, the competition rate was 998.83 to 1, the highest among the four pharmaceutical and biotech firms to be listed in February. The offer price is 7,700 won per share, 2 percent above the target price.

Since its foundation in 2012, the company has concentrated its business in exports. Currently, 60 percent of the revenue comes from overseas sales. The company plans to use the IPO-backed capital to develop new products and target both local and overseas sales.

Other drugmakers and biotech firms eyeing an IPO on KOSDAQ this year include Eone Diagnomics Genome Center, OliX Pharmaceuticals, ICure Pharm, CytoGen, Opti Pharm, Toolgen, PharmAbine, GenBody, and Genomictree.

“Even if drugmakers and biotech firms don’t produce immediate profits, they can export their technologies through licensing-out deals. They require an enormous amount of R&D investment,” a pharmaceutical industry official said. “They make profit structures by raising funds through an IPO and clinching licensing-out deals.”

sjh@docdocdoc.co.kr

<© Korea Biomedical Review, All rights reserved.>