[JPM 2026] D&D Pharmatech courts partners ahead of Phase 2 MASH data

Korea Herald correspondent

SAN FRANCISCO — D&D Pharmatech sensed its heightened status on the global stage when invited to deliver an official presentation at the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference for the first time this year, said its CEO Lee Seul-ki.

The Korean biotechnology firm is most known for its drug candidate developed to treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, a liver disease caused by a buildup of fat cells in the liver.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to present at the (JPMHC),” said Lee in an interview on the sidelines of the conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.

“Besides the presentation, we are conducting several meetings with various companies that could be our partners later. ... After Metsera was acquired by Pfizer, hardly any companies have shown skepticism towards our technology.”

D&D Pharmatech has partnered with US-based Metsera since 2023, to which it transferred six drug candidates. Pfizer announced the decision to buy Metsera for up to $7.3 billion in September 2025, skyrocketing D&D Pharmatech's stock price. D&D Pharmatech, which went public on Korea’s secondary, tech-heavy bourse Kosdaq in May 2024, has a market capitalization of about 4 trillion won ($2.7 billion).

“Most importantly, we are trying to promote our technological strengths in developing MASH treatment,” said Lee. “Secondly, we are also focusing on explaining the potential impact and the need for Oralink products.”

Oralink is D&D Pharmatech’s oral peptide delivery platform. The CEO added that the company has returned to developing treatments for neurodegenerative disease by targeting the central nervous system and focusing on glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1. The naturally produced hormone that helps control blood sugar, appetite and digestion.

As for the upcoming results of the phase 2 clinical trial of DD01, D&D Pharmatech’s novel, long-acting agonist of the GLP-1 and glucagon receptors under the spotlight in the United States, Lee expressed optimism.

“The efficacy of (DD01) was pretty good after 12 weeks, and similar progress was shown at 24 weeks, so we are obviously expecting a good result from the 48-week mark,” he said.

“Big pharmas are mostly interested in the results (at 48 weeks since injection) as the MASH treatment market has the potential to exponentially grow like the obesity drug market.”

D&D Pharmatech is expected to announce the 48-week results in the second quarter of this year. According to Lee, participants at the JPMHC have mentioned a positive outlook for the Korean market’s overall growth.

“I talked to some people in the financial sector here at the (JPMHC) and they expressed high expectations for the Korean market,” he said.

“Some were even saying that (Korea’s benchmark Kospi) could reach 6,000 by March. That I think shows global investors’ higher expectations for the Korean market.”