Bukwang subsidiary’s IPO in Korea will be postponed

Postponement inevitable due to the failure of its new Parkinson’s disease drug

Je-Young Lee, CEO of Bukwang Pharmaceutical, held an online emergency briefing to explain Contera Pharma’s JM-010 trial results

“Contera Pharma listing schedule would need to be postponed...Company decided to discontinue the JM-010 trial in the US “

“OCI Chairman  Woo-hyun Lee will visit Contera Pharma in Denmark in May…will review the company’s portfolio”

Bukwang Pharmaceutical announced that the IPO schedule for its subsidiary Contera Pharma would inevitably need to be postponed.

 

Initially, Contera Pharma planned to gain momentum for its IPO listing in Korea and abroad based on the Phase II results of its new drug candidate for Parkinson's disease, JM-010, but the schedule was postponed as the drug failed to demonstrate statistical significance.

 

However, the company had affirmed that it had not given up its plan to list Contera Pharma.

 

Woo-hyun Lee, the Chairman of its parent company, OCI Holdings, is planning to visit Contera Pharma in Denmark this month to see firsthand the development progress of JM-010 and other portfolios.

 

Je-Young Lee, CEO of Bukwang Pharmaceutical, held an online emergency briefing session on the morning of the 23rd to explain Contera Pharma's JM-010 clinical results and plans.

 

Bukwang Pharmaceutical announced on May 22 that it did not meet the primary endpoint target in the European Phase II clinical trial of Contera Pharma's Parkinson's disease candidate JM-010.

 

The primary endpoint was the reduction in dyskinesia as assessed by the Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale (UDysRS) at Week 12.

 

On this, CEO Lee said, "Although we confirmed the drug’s pharmacological effect, we were unable to confirm a statistically significant difference between JM-010 and the placebo, which was our primary endpoint.

 

We are conducting additional subanalysis on our findings and have identified some significant results.

 

We plan to announce the specifics at upcoming international academic conferences." However, regardless of the sub-analysis results, the company decided to discontinue the US trial.

 

Lee explained, "Our initial strategy was to shorten the duration of the ongoing US Phase II trial and enter Phase III early based on the European Phase II trial results, but we had to give up this strategy due to failure to achieve statistical significance in the US trial.

 

Further delays and additional investments are too burdensome.

 

As painful as it is, we have decided to discontinue the US trial." As for Contera Pharma's IPO, the company said it will have to delay its timeline.

 

CEO Lee said, “Our original plan for a quick IPO has become a little difficult, and we would inevitably have to postpone the listing.” “However, given Contera Pharma’s capabilities and other pipelines, it would be disappointing to give up on the listing itself.” Lee emphasized, “We are not suspending or abandoning the company’s IPO itself.” He also dismissed speculations and questions about whether the clinical trial failure would lead to a breakup of OCI Holdings and Bukwang Pharmaceutical, or Bukwang Pharmaceutical and Contera Pharma.

 

CEO Lee said that he and OCI Holdings Chairman Woo-hyun Lee will visit Contera Pharma in Denmark this month to look at the company's pipeline.

 

"Of course, it is true that JM-010 is a significant part of Contera Pharma, but OCI is constantly attempting to make its way into the pharmaceutical industry, and this result is unlikely to change OCI's policy on Bukwang Pharmaceutical." “Contera Pharma owns a number of other pipelines in addition to JM-010.

 

We plan to visit Contera Pharma in Denmark with Chairman Lee at the end of May and plan to review the company's portfolio development situation there.”