[Edaily Reporter Kim Jinsoo ] On the 6th, the pharmaceutical and biotech sector saw a rollercoaster ride, with #LemonHealthcare—which went public that day—soaring before plummeting. PeopleBio, Inc.(304840)rose on the back of concrete plans for new business ventures and its participation in an international conference on Alzheimer’s disease.

VIVOZON PHARMACEUTICAL(082800)It attracted investor interest as its affiliate, Vivzon, confirmed the efficacy of a non-narcotic analgesic candidate.

LEMON COMPANY LIMITED Soars Then Plummets… Down 6% From IPO Price

According to KG Zeroin’s MP Doctor (formerly Marketpoint), LEMON COMPANY LIMITED’s stock price—which debuted on the market that day—reached 20,300 won, a rise of more than 100% from its initial public offering (IPO) price of 10,000 won, shortly after the market opened. However, it gave up all its gains in the afternoon and closed its first trading session at 9,400 won, down 6% from the IPO price.

LEMON COMPANY LIMITED conducted a public offering subscription for retail investors on the 24th and 25th of last month, attracting significant interest with a subscription ratio of 1,511 to 1. Previously, during the bookbuilding process held from the 15th to the 19th of last month, a total of 2,233 institutions participated, resulting in a subscription ratio of 1,238 to 1. The final offering price was set at 10,000 won, the upper end of the target price range (7,500–10,000 won).

LEMON COMPANY LIMITED is a technology company that operates a “two-way medical data relay platform” connecting participants in the medical data ecosystem—including hospitals, patients, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical firms—in real time. Since its establishment in 2017, the company has built smart hospital services and subscription-based services, primarily centered on leading tertiary hospitals in South Korea.

Lemon Healthcare’s core technology is the Lemon Digital Bridge (LDB). It converts data—which varies from hospital to hospital—into a proprietary standardized format. Lemon Healthcare operates several key businesses, including the smart hospital intermediary platform “LDB-H,” the medical data-based platform “LDB-E,” and the personalized healthcare platform “LDB-D.”

LDB-H is South Korea’s leading smart hospital service exclusively for medical professionals, having signed contracts with 38 of the country’s 47 major tertiary general hospitals. Its major clients include Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, which boast the largest scale and highest quality of medical services in the country.

LDB-E is a service that processes claims for out-of-pocket medical expense insurance based on medical data, with a cumulative total of 1.9 million subscribers and 10 million claims filed. LDB-D is a medical data ecosystem intermediary platform that establishes an environment where medical treatment and prescription data scattered across various healthcare institutions can be securely exchanged and integrated within a single system.

LEMON COMPANY LIMITED plans to use the funds raised through the IPO to: △ build infrastructure for the distribution and trading of medical data for AI training; △ enhance existing services and develop new ones; and △ boost marketing and brand awareness.

A Lemon Healthcare official stated, “The funds secured through this IPO will be used to build a marketplace for trading data for medical AI training.”

PeopleBio, Inc.: Optimism Over New Business Ventures

and

Stabilization

of

Existing Operations

On that day

, PeopleBio

, Inc.’s stock price closed at 918 won, up 17.54% from the previous day. The rise in PeopleBio, Inc.’s stock price is interpreted as reflecting

optimism

regarding the concretization

of new business ventures

and

the stabilization

of

existing

operations.

According to a regulatory filing, PeopleBio, Inc. plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on the 20th to vote on agenda items including a name change, a 2-for-1 stock consolidation, and a proposal to cover accumulated losses using 79.2 billion won in capital surplus.

PeopleBio, Inc. plans to resolve most of its accumulated losses to strengthen its financial soundness and lay the groundwork for future shareholder returns, including dividends. In particular, by changing its company name to “TimeX AI,” the company will begin a full-scale shift toward an AI-centric business structure.

To shift its business structure toward AI, PeopleBio, Inc. is focusing on three main business areas: △AI data center infrastructure and servers, △semiconductors, and △biotechnology.

Recently, a domestic semiconductor company announced plans to build an intelligent factory that integrates AI into all production processes and to construct large-scale data center infrastructure; as a result, demand for AI infrastructure is expected to surge. In the semiconductor sector, Sista, PeopleBio’s refurbished equipment joint venture partner, is currently engaged in multiple negotiations regarding the purchase and delivery of used 200mm wafer equipment scheduled for delivery to a mid-sized domestic foundry. The company is preparing to recognize revenue from these transactions in the second half of the year.

In addition, a return to normal operations in existing businesses is anticipated. PeopleBio, Inc. will participate in the “Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2026,” taking place in London, UK, from the 12th to the 15th of this month. AAIC is the largest academic conference on dementia, bringing together dementia researchers from around the world.

PeopleBio, Inc. will present a poster showcasing its research findings on the advancement of blood-based diagnostic technology for Parkinson’s disease. This study is notable for analyzing not only the existing alpha-synuclein blood diagnostic technology but also the immune proteins that change in tandem with the aggregation process.

Additionally, according to PeopleBio, Inc., the company visited the U.S. to review its preparations in response to its application for designation as an FDA “Breakthrough Device,” for which it had previously submitted its review application. PeopleBio, Inc. is making every effort to secure approval by August.

PeopleBio, Inc. stated, “With the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on July 20 as a turning point, we are in the process of fundamentally transforming the company into an AI infrastructure firm,” adding, “We will expand our new growth foundation through tangible results from our three major business areas.”

VIVOZON PHARMACEUTICAL Confirms Potential of VVZ-2471 in Phase 2 Trial

VIVOZON PHARMACEUTICAL’s stock price closed at 2,905 won

,

up 15.74% from the previous day. The rise in VIVOZON PHARMACEUTICAL’s stock price is attributed to the clinical efficacy demonstrated by an oral, non-narcotic analgesic candidate developed by its affiliate, Vibozon.

On the same day, Vivazon announced that it had confirmed a trend toward analgesic efficacy, particularly in the high-dose group, in the Phase 2 clinical trial of its oral non-opioid analgesic candidate “VVZ-2471.”

VVZ-2471 is an oral non-opioid analgesic candidate derived from a multi-target new drug development platform technology that previously identified the non-opioid analgesic Anapraz. It possesses a dual mechanism of action that simultaneously modulates the metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5) and the serotonin receptor type 2A (5-HT2A). It is a candidate compound derived biologically and chemically from anaprazu, which has proven analgesic efficacy.

This trial was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial conducted in patients with postherpetic neuralgia to evaluate the exploratory analgesic efficacy and safety of VVZ-2471. Participants were assigned to the 150 mg VVZ-2471 group, the 100 mg VVZ-2471 group, or the placebo group and took the medication twice daily. The primary endpoint was defined as the change in pain intensity at week 4 compared to baseline.

According to the study, the high-dose group showed a consistent decrease in pain intensity from Week 1 through Week 4 of treatment. In the high-dose group, 32% of patients achieved a pain reduction of at least 40% compared to baseline after 4 weeks of treatment, which was more than twice as high as the 15% observed in the placebo group. This is interpreted as an exploratory signal within a range similar to the increase in the response rate reported in a clinical trial of pregabalin—the standard treatment for postherpetic neuralgia—at a dose of 300 mg once daily for 8 weeks.

Furthermore, no major safety concerns were identified with VVZ-2471 overall, and it was evaluated as having good safety and tolerability. Adverse events observed during 4 weeks of repeated dosing included mild dizziness or nausea, similar to the patterns identified in the Phase 1 clinical trial.

A Vivozon official stated, “Assuming a patient enrollment of at least 150 per group—which is generally applied in confirmatory Phase 3 clinical trials—our analysis indicates that the high-dose group is likely to achieve statistical significance,” adding, “We will develop VVZ-2471 as a next-generation oral drug candidate targeting chronic neuropathic pain, including postherpetic neuralgia, and the treatment of drug addiction.”