HLB Group unveils growth strategy for follow-up new drugs and next-generation treatments beyond first FDA approval

About 100 institutional investors and analysts attended the group IR Day… 10 listed affiliates participating, sharing major development schedules such as HLB liver cancer new drug, HLB Therapeutics phase 3 clinical trial, CAR-T, etc.

HLB Group will begin developing follow-up new drugs and expanding its next-generation treatment business based on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the bile duct cancer treatment 'LYRFIGTU (ingredient name: lirafugratinib)'. The growth strategy after the first new drug was fleshed out through major projects for each affiliate, such as approval of a new liver cancer drug, phase 3 clinical trials for a dry eye syndrome treatment, and development of CAR-T cell therapy.

HLB Group announced on the 15th that it held the '2026 HLB Group IR Day' at Hanmaeum Hall of Hana Securities in Yeouido, Seoul, with about 100 people including institutional investors and analysts in attendance.

Ten listed affiliates participated in this event, of which five, including HLB, HLB Therapeutics, HLB Genex, HLB Innovation, and HLB Panagine, announced major business achievements and future development schedules.

Taking the FDA approval of Repick2 as an opportunity, HLB Group proposed a direction to build a growth foundation that does not depend on a single new drug. The plan is to use the experience accumulated during the development of new drugs to develop follow-up anticancer drugs and cell therapy products, and to expand the business area to diagnostics and biomaterials.

HLB announced plans to launch RepickTwo in the U.S. market, pursue approval in Europe, and expand indications for all types of cancer. FDA approval of liver cancer treatments and securing a new anticancer pipeline were also presented as major tasks. Through this, the goal is to grow into one of the top 100 global pharmaceutical and bio companies by 2030.

HLB Therapeutics announced the announcement of the topline results of the US phase 3 clinical trial of RGN-259, a dry eye disease treatment drug, scheduled for November as its main schedule. Based on the clinical results, we plan to export the technology to global pharmaceutical companies and expand the indications to include limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). The profit base of the existing cold chain business will also be strengthened.

HLB Innovation shared the status of development of blood cancer and solid cancer treatments using the KIR-CAR platform of its U.S. subsidiary Verismo Therapeutics. We plan to expand our follow-up pipeline and expand our cell therapy business in Korea and Asia through HLB Cell. The existing semiconductor business will be used as a profit base to support the expansion of the bio business.

HLB Panazine first unveiled 'PALymorph,' the name of its antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate (AOC) therapeutic platform.

The company presented a goal of developing its first treatment pipeline in 2027 based on PNA material technology. We plan to expand our business area by combining spatial proteomics and artificial intelligence (AI)-based diagnostic technology with the existing molecular diagnostic business.

HLB Genex announced a strategy to expand overseas markets, focusing on its special enzyme business, such as catalase, which it supplies to global semiconductor manufacturers. The plan is to strengthen the growth foundation of existing businesses by discovering new enzyme materials and expanding applicable industries.

Executives from all 10 listed companies participated in the integrated Q&A held after each affiliate's presentation.

Investors focused on whether issues related to the manufacturing facility of the HLB liver cancer new drug would be resolved and the market entry strategy after approval. There were also questions about how Verismo's KIR-CAR T treatment differs from existing CAR-T treatments and how HLB Panazine's AOC platform can overcome the technical limitations of PNA treatment development.

Business issues for each affiliate were also discussed, such as HLB Pharmaceutical's investment in production facilities and measures to improve profitability, and HLB Biostep's contract research organization (CRO) competitiveness and performance improvement strategy.

Jin Yang-gon, Chairman of HLB Group, said, "After a lot of effort and frustration, we did not give up and took on the challenge, and the first flower called Lipictu bloomed. However, looking back, what we had grown was not just one flower, but a tree that could continue to bloom," and added, "Based on the experience and capabilities accumulated throughout the entire process of new drug development, we will continue to achieve results in follow-up pipelines such as liver cancer treatment and CAR-T treatment."