Celltrion buys more stake in UK’s Iksuda Therapeutics, becomes the largest shareholder

Celltrion biopharmaceutical company based in Incheon, South Korea, has become the largest shareholder in United Kingdom’s Iksuda Therapeutics biotech firm. This happened after the former acquired more stake in the antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) developer’s company.

According to The Korea Herald, Celltrion now owns a 47.05% stake in Iksuda Therapeutics. It was able to buy more shares after securing a new growth fund. The South Korean leading drugmaker announced its latest acquisition on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

Celltrion shared it paid for the asset through direct investment and a fund it set up with Mirae Asset Capital. With the deal, Celltrion and the Mirae Asset Celltrion New Growth Fund are now the largest co-shareholders of Iksuda Therapeutics. The initial share that Celltrion owned prior to the new investment is unknown, as the company reportedly declined to say.

Moreover, the investment was made under the same contract terms that Celltrion and Mirae Asset Capital signed before. In the deal, they agreed to invest a total of KRW58 billion or about $47 million when they participated in the British biotech firm’s Series A financing round that took place in June 2021, as per The Korea Economic Daily.

With its increased share in Iksuda Therapeutics, Celltrion now expects to transform and expand its anti-cancer treatments by using the latter’s ADC technology for its biosimilar products - Herzuma and Truxima.

“We are working with and investing in various biotechnologies with promising platforms. We will be taking versatile measures to increase our influence in the growing ADC field,” the company said in a statement.

Iksuda Therapeutics mainly works on the development of the next-generation ADC for incurable cancer drugs. This is an anti-cancer tech that has been receiving a lot of attention recently because it was able to specifically attack cancer cells by simply connecting antibody drugs and chemical anti-cancer medicines.