Kainos Medicine completed listing in Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq, Monday, vowing to inject more power to its ongoing pipeline developments for Parkinson’s Disease and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome treatments.

Kainos Medicine merged with Kosdaq-listed Hana Financial Eleventh Special Purpose Acquisition Company by which it became a listed company on Kosdaq.

“Becoming a publicly-traded company is an impetus for Kainos Medicine to add fuel to its on-going novel drug developments,” said Lee Kee-seob, founder and CEO of Kainos Medicine.

“We will strive as if we were re-founding the company, and seek to create a stable revenue source through entering the broader health care business,” Lee said.

Among the top goals is developing treatments for Parkinson’s and AIDS.

Kainos Medicine’s US subsidiary FAScinate Therapeutics is set to receive a $25 million investment from a US venture capital for a planned phase 2 clinical trial of Parkinson’s treatment in the US.

If this plan goes through as planned, Kainos Medicine will become the first Korean firm to carry out a large-scale human test of a Parkinson’s drug in the US.

According to Kainos Medicine, currently available PD treatments offer only temporary relief of symptoms, accompanied by side effects ranging from drug resistance and depression to movement impairment.

Kainos Medicine’s KM-819 pipeline is a first-in-class alternative that slows the progression of Parkinson’s by inhibiting the Fas-Associated Factor1 protein.

By inhibiting the FAF1 protein, the drug prevents premature death of neurons and instead activates the breakdown of alpha-synuclein, the buildup of which is believed to be the trigger of Parkinson’s.

The Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center in the US and contract research organization Parexel is collaborating with Kainos Medicine to design the phase 2 clinical trial.

KM-819 also might be able to treat multiple system atrophy, caused by abnormal accumulation of alpha-synuclein. The phase 2 clinical trial for the MSA indication will take place in the second half of 2020 at Asan Medical Center in Seoul.

Elsewhere in China, Kainos Medicine has a phase 3 clinical trial for AIDS treatment pipeline KM-023.

A 48-week double blind test has recently wrapped up, with Kainos Medicine’s Chinese partner Jiangsu Aidea preparing a novel drug application of the pipeline within summer.

Jiangsu Aidea aims to start commercial sales of the medicine in China between 2021 and 2022. Kainos Medicine will receive royalties for the sales.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)