New drug developer Onconic Therapeutics raises $20 mn in Series B

South Korean drug developer Onconic Therapeutics, announced on Friday that it raised 26 billion won ($19.9 million) in Series B funding, with cumulative raising reaching 46 billion won.

Series A investors such as Stonebridge Ventures, Premier Partners, BNH Investment, and DAOL Investment continued their follow-up investments in this round, with fresh participation from Korea Development Bank, K2 Investment Partners, Aju IB Investment, SL Investment, and Dt& Investment.

Onconic Therapeutics will use the fresh injection of funds to  accelerate  phase 3 clinical trials of "OCN-101" (formerly known as JP-1366), a P-CAB (Potassium-Competitive Acid Blocker)-based new drug candidate for stomach ulcer and seek approval of a new medication. 

The funding will also be used on phase 2 clinical trials of the next-generation PARP anticancer drug candidate "OCN-201" (formerly known as JPI-547), which overcomes the tolerance of existing PARP anticancer drugs through the PARP and Tankyrase dual inhibition mechanism.

The company plans to expand the indication of OCN-201 to pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and intractable cancer.

"The successful attraction of 26 billion won from leading institutions at a time when investment in unlisted bio companies is frozen means that the market's evaluation of Onconic Therapy is high," said  John Kim, CEO of Onconic Therapeutics.

"In order to meet expectations, we will definitely prove new success stories of domestic new drug development startups," he added.

Write to Jeong-Eun Kim at likesmile@hankyung.com