GI Innovation submits a preliminary application for KOSDAQ listing…Unicorn IPO ready to launch

• Aim for IPO, in the 4Q of 2022 through Unicorn special track
• Clinical trial data from the phase 1/2 study of GI-101 monotherapy and combination therapy with Keytruda of GI-101 and phase 1 study of GI-301 to be released by end of 2022

GI Innovation, Inc., an innovative new drug development company announced its submission of a preliminary application for KOSDAQ listing on April 20th. The representative listed organizers are NH Investment & Securities and Hana Financial Investment and the associated listed organizer is Samsung Securities.

The application and the review will proceed under a special IPO track (Unicorn) meant for companies with an excellent market evaluation. Last November, GI Innovation received an ‘A’ from the evaluation agencies.

Since April 2021, Korea Exchange (KRX) has offered simplified technology evaluation procedures for the companies with excellent market evaluation, known as the Unicorn special listing. To be eligible, the expected market cap of the applying company must be over US$420M in the KOSDAQ market and the company must receive an ‘A’ from at least one of the evaluation agencies. Through the Unicorn special listing, GI Innovation plans to take its steps to a successful IPO in the second half of this year.

Since its establishment in 2017, GI Innovation has built a solid foundation for entering KOSDAQ. GI Innovation has established an exceptional career in the domestic unlisted bio-industry market, with a total of 250 billion KRW funds, including US$75M from series A to C and US$134M at pre-IPO for global clinical trials. In particular, participation of the major companies, such as SK Corp., Yuhan Corp., iMarketKorea, KDB Bank, NH Investment & Securities, KCLAVIS, DS Asset Management, Brain Asset Management, Aju IB, Cloud IB, DAYLI Partners, ANDA Asset Management, and Widwin Investment, as SI (Strategy Investment)/FI (Finance Investment), demonstrated the competitiveness of GI Innovation in the market.

In addition, GI Innovation made two out-licensing deals for the products in the pre-clinical stage. The immuno-oncology project, GI-101, was out-licensed for a maximum of US$750M to Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, listed as one of the top ten innovative drug companies in China 2019. The anti-allergy project, GI-301, was out-licensed to for a maximum of US$1.2B to Yuhan Corp., the largest pharma company in Korea.

A phase 1/2 study of GI-101 is currently ongoing in Korea and US, and a phase 1 study of GI-301 in Korea. In the case of GI-101, GI Innovation signed a joint clinical trial agreement with MSD and AstraZeneca for the supply of Keytruda^® (MSD) and Imfinzi^® (AstraZeneca) free of charge for the combination therapy.

GI Innovation will obtain preliminary results from the phase 1/2 study of GI-101 as monotherapy and combination therapy with Keytruda by the end of 2022. The preliminary results from the GI-301 phase 1 are also expected by the end of 2022. Furthermore, GI Innovation is developing the next pipelines, such as a new immuno-oncology project and a metabolic disease project.

Dr. BG Rhee, the Chairman & CEO of GI Innovation, said, “Currently, GI-101 and GI-301 of GI Innovation’s main pipelines are cruising well. For GI Innovation’s successful IPO and growth into a global company, we plan to keep our focus on 3S’s (Science, Strategy, Speed)”.