Qurient garners spotlight from biotech investors

Qurient, a biotech venture firm engaged in developing new treatments, is attracting interest from investors since debuting on Korea’s tech-driven KOSDAQ stock market on Monday.

On the day of its stock market debut, Qurient’s stock price surged by 15.04 percent from its starting price to close at 33,900 won on Monday. It again rose by 15 percent to close at 39,000 won on Tuesday and by 19 percent to reach a closing price of 46,600 won on Wednesday.

The company’s stock price is continuing to tread upward on expectations of a favorable business outlook for the company this year, analysts said.

“Qurient is set to swing to profit this year and actively improve its performance,” said Hana Investment Securities analyst Lee Jung-ki.

Lee forecast that the company will license out some 400 billion won worth of its new drug pipelines — one for treating atopic dermatitis and another for tuberculosis — and move into the black with sales of about 9.2 billion won this year.

Qurient was spun off from Institut Pasteur Korea, a research institute focused on curing infectious diseases, in 2008 as a company to develop fresh pipelines for new, innovative drugs.

It has been pursuing five new drug pipelines, which are promising drug candidates for further development into commercial therapeutics, some of which are likely to be sold to global pharmaceuticals companies this year.

Qurient recently concluded Phase IIA clinical trials (the first portion of second stage clinical trials) of its atopic dermatitis treatment Q301 in the U.S., and is reportedly in talks with several U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies over a potential licensing deal.

The company is poised to reap about 200 billion won to 300 billion won in profits when a deal is officially signed, according to Hana Investment Securities.

Moreover, Qurient’s tuberculosis treatment Q203, which was licensed to Infectex, an affiliate of Russia’s state-run Maxwell Biotech Venture Fund in 2014, is expected to channel in some 1 billion won in development milestones. The new drug candidate also recently concluded Phase IA clinical trials in the U.S.

“There is a high likelihood that Qurient will sell its atopic dermatitis and tuberculosis treatment pipelines in the near future, fueling expectations for an inflow of new capital,” said Shinhan Investment Corp. analyst Oh Kang-ho.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)