It is worth noting that the fundamentals of domestic biotech companies remain unchanged. In particular, #Olix, a small interfering RNA (siRNA) company, had all of its convertible bonds converted into common stock last year, relieving it of the burden of debt repayment. Olix has successfully raised substantial funds through consecutive rights offerings, bringing its cash and cash equivalents to over 2400억 won.
Since Olix has secured enough cash to continue its research and development (R&D) without interruption for the next four to six years, it is expected to weather the current harsh market conditions without any issues. Building on this, Olix is accelerating the development of new siRNA drugs for skin, ophthalmology, and obesity, in addition to its existing liver-focused treatments.
Olix’s Cash Reserves Surge
Olix announced earlier this month that it would raise 1107억 won through a third-party allocation of new common shares. Of this amount, 105억 won will come from a strategic investment by L’Oréal USA, while U.S. asset management firm Brookdale will invest 1002억 won. The issue price is 14만9599 won, representing a 10% discount to the reference share price, and the payment date is the 29th of this month. Investors are subject to a one-year mandatory holding period.
Just 10 months ago, in August 2025, Olix raised 1150억 won in the form of convertible preferred stock (CPS). Classified as mezzanine capital for accounting purposes, this represents a lesser financial burden for the company than convertible bonds (CBs). At that time, the conversion price was set at 5만8101 won, representing a 6.65% premium over the base share price.
At that time as well, Brookdale invested 8 billion won in Olix’s CPS. In addition to Brookdale, △KB Investment, △Aju IB Investment, △Kiwoom Investment, △Company K Partners, △IMM Investment, △Solidus Investment, and △#NH Investment & Securities also invested in Olix’s CPS. The conversion period was set from August 2026 to August 2030. A one-year mandatory holding period applies.
Olix’s redemption burden has been eliminated after approximately 383억 won worth of convertible bonds (CBs) were fully converted into common stock at the end of last year. These CBs were issued in 2023 and 2024, with conversion prices of 1만3526 won and 1만6283 won, respectively. Olix’s stock price had already exceeded 140,000 won by the end of last year. For investors, realizing capital gains through on-market trading—rather than demanding redemption—was the natural course of action. According to an investigation by PharmEdaily, the pharmaceutical and biotech premium content service of Edaily, some of these CB investors have not yet sold the Olix common stock they still hold.
The National Pension Service (NPS), which viewed Olix favorably, also jumped into the investment. On March 30, the NPS purchased approximately 1.12 million Olix shares on the open market, becoming a major shareholder with a 5.04% stake. Although the acquisition price per share was not disclosed, applying Olix’s closing price of 186,000 won on that day to the number of shares acquired by the National Pension Service yields a total investment of approximately 208.7 billion won.
As a shareholder holding more than 5% of Ollex’s shares, the NPS is required to disclose any disposition of those shares. However, it is understood that this requirement no longer applies, as its stake has been diluted to 4.87% following Ollex’s recent common stock capital increase.
Olix’s financial position is considered stable, with its unused cash balance exceeding 240 billion won as of this month. Olix is also steadily repaying the 25 billion won it borrowed from the Korea Development Bank to construct a new headquarters in Pangyo, Seongnam. As of the end of March, the outstanding balance on that loan had been reduced to 16.9 billion won.
An Olix official stated, “New drug development companies face the challenge of needing to maintain a continuous cash reserve,” adding, “Since we spend approximately 30 billion to 35 billion won annually on research, based on last year’s figures, those funds would have been depleted within two to three years. With this additional capital increase, we have effectively secured operating funds for the next four to six years.”
The representative continued, “Now that we have sufficient financial resources, we can pursue more aggressive deals for our drug candidates (assets) rather than licensing them out too early in the development process,” citing U.S. competitor Arrowhead as an example.
Arrowhead, a NASDAQ-listed company, has a market capitalization of 15 trillion won. Arrowhead is researching an ALK7-targeted obesity treatment similar to Olix’s and, recognizing the significant future value of this target, has declared its intention to develop and commercialize the drug in-house. Arrowhead holds 2 trillion won in cash.
An Olix official said, “It is impossible for us to secure 2 trillion won in cash like our U.S. counterparts,” adding, “However, Olix is striving to enhance its research and development (R&D) capabilities within our limited resources.”
Active R&Din
Non-Hepatic siRNA… Skin, Ophthalmology, ObesityOlix is currently conducting R&D on
non-hepatic siRNAin the following areas: △
skin(OLX101A, OLX104C), △
ophthalmology(OLX301A), and △
obesity(OLX501A). First, in the skin sector, there are two clinical pipeline candidates. These include OLX101A, a treatment for hypertrophic scars that has completed Phase 2 clinical trials, and OLX104C, a treatment for hair loss currently undergoing Phase 1b/2a trials in Australia.
In the ophthalmology pipeline, OLX301A has completed a Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. for the indication of dry age-related macular degeneration (geographic atrophy), and the company plans to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a Phase 2 trial. Macular degeneration is broadly classified into wet and dry forms. In the wet form, Regeneron’s Eylea and Genentech’s Bavismo dominate the market for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors.
For dry AMD, there are Apellis’s Sipover and Astellas’s Izebay. However, while both have shown improvements in physical appearance, they have not demonstrated improvements in visual acuity. OLX’s dry AMD drug candidate is reported to have shown visual acuity improvement, indicating preliminary efficacy.
In the obesity treatment sector, the company has secured interim monkey study data for OLX501A—a compound that targets ALK7 in fat cells—and has finalized an optimized development candidate. ALK7 refers to fat cells that accumulate fat; OLX501A works by sending a signal to ALK7 to break down fat rather than store it. The company is highlighting ALK7 as an alternative that can address the side effects associated with appetite suppression caused by glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is widely used in the market today.
The company plans to disclose the monkey study data after confirming the final results. Olix announced that it intends to advance OLX501A into clinical trials next year. CEO Lee Dong-ki plans to personally attend the Bio USA event in San Diego, USA, from June 22 to 25 to engage in business development (BD) discussions regarding OLX501A and the company’s key pipeline.
An Olix official stated, “In terms of funding priorities, skin, eye, and adipose tissue are on the same level,” adding, “Regarding age-related macular degeneration, we primarily discussed technology transfer in investor relations (IR) communications until last year. However, now that we have secured funding, we have revised our strategy to directly proceed with the Phase 2 IND application.”
The representative continued, “There is strong unmet medical need in the market for the ALK7 adipocyte target,” adding, “For this reason, while we will proceed with monkey studies and the clinical IND application, we are also pursuing business development to facilitate technology transfer even during the preclinical phase.”
