April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] ToolGen, Korea’s biotech specialized in genome editing, expects its market capitalization to exceed 1 trillion won (US$938 million) if its stock transfers to the bigger KOSDAQ market.

“Given that the market value of gene-editing stocks like Crispr Therapeutics and Editas Medicine listed on NASDAQ are over US$1 billion even though they haven’t generated revenue, the KOSDAQ listing will give a boost to ToolGen as we have a world-class original technology that doesn’t fall behind them,” an official at the company told The Investor. 

ToolGen, the largest KONEX-listed share with 934 billion won in market cap, plans to apply for relisting in June or July. It has hired Korea Investment & Securities as an underwriter for the IPO. This is the company’s third attempt to move its shares to KOSDAQ after two setbacks in 2016 and 2017. “We have solved issues that thwarted our relisting plan,” he said.

Korea Exchange previously turned down ToolGen’s applications due to potential dispute over management control and technology and unprotected intellectual property.

Founded in 1999, ToolGen has been developing several genome editing tools including CRISPR-Cas9 that allows scientists to edit parts of the genome by removing, adding, or altering specific sections of the DNA sequence. The firm has yet to make a profit but its revenue has been slowly growing to post 3.3 billion won last year.

By Park Harn-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)