바이오스펙테이터

바이오스펙테이터 Jongwon Jang 기자

ToolGen, Korea’s biotechnology company, announced on February 8 that it has selected Korea Investment & Securities, rather than Hana Financial Investment, to lead an initial public offering (IPO), since the selected brokerage firm is reputed to have plentiful experience in IPO management.

ToolGen is gearing up to list on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market in the first half of this year, after completion of its technology assessment.

Korea Investment & Securities will partner with ToolGen as a financial partner, and take underwriting roles and provide consultation in offering ToolGen’s stocks to public subscription, and listing ToolGen on the KOSDAQ market.

Presently, ToolGen is listed on the Korea New Exchange (KONEX), which is the organized stock exchange for small enterprises. It is a channel through which venture start-ups at their early stage can raise funds without a huge burden of debt.

Based on its CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing platform technology, ToolGen is diversifying its product portfolio in the agriculture/livestock and pharmaceutical development sectors, as well as plant breeding.

The CRISPR/Cas9 technology is faster, cheaper, and more accurate than previous techniques of editing DNA, and has a wide range of potential applications in the life science field.

ToolGen has patented its own CRISPR/Cas9 in Australia and Korea. In addition, the patent has also been filed and screened in 10 countries, which include the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

The company signed a deal to transfer its core technology to multinational firms, such as Monsanto, the most innovative breeding company in crops and plant, and ThermoFisher Scientific, the well known American multinational biotechnology product development company.