[Edaily Reporter kyoungeun kim ] On the 21st, IBK Investment & Securities initiated coverage of Alteogen Inc.(196170)with a “Buy” rating and a new target price of 400,000 won. This represents an upside potential of 57.8% compared to the closing price on the 18th.
Jeong Yi-su, an analyst at IBK Investment & Securities, stated, “Demand for switching to subcutaneous (SC) formulations is growing ahead of the patent expirations of original biopharmaceuticals,” adding, “Since it takes more than five years from signing an SC contract to launch, pharmaceutical companies will continue to proactively adopt this technology.”
Notably, Alteogen Inc. and the U.S.-based Halozime are the only companies to have commercialized SC conversion technology; while some of Halozime’s core patents expire in 2027, Alteogen Inc.’s ALT-B4 patent remains valid until early 2043. Analyst Jeong pointed out, “Demand for long-term patent protection will inevitably be concentrated on Alteogen Inc.”
Alteogen Inc.’s ALT-B4 is an enzyme that facilitates SC conversion and has been applied to MSD (Merck)’s Keytruda. MSD’s Keytruda Qurex, the first commercialized product, posted second-quarter revenue of $463 million—a 262% increase from the previous quarter—accounting for 5.5% of total Keytruda revenue. MSD plans to transition 30–40% of U.S. Keytruda prescriptions to the SC formulation by the end of 2027.
Analyst Jeong estimated that Alteogen Inc. will receive a total of $1 billion in sales milestones by 2028 and will begin receiving revenue-based royalties starting in 2029, reaching $460 million (644 billion won) by 2030.
The target stock price was calculated using the Sum-of-the-Parts (SOTP) valuation method. This involved adding 10.777 trillion won in operating value, 16.341 trillion won in value from other technology transfer agreements, and 540 billion won in net cash.