A Korean biopharmaceutical company PROGEN has successfully secured USD 15.5 million (KRW 22 billion) in funding, comprising USD 5.6 million (KRW 8 billion) in convertible preferred shares and USD 9.9 million (KRW 14 billion) in convertible bonds. Existing shareholders Yuhan Corporation, SL Bigen, and Soo-Man Lee—key producer and visionary leader at A2O Entertainment—joined the latest equity financing round, alongside new strategic investor JW Pharmaceutical. The convertible bonds were issued through the Suseong Asset-T3 New Technology Investment Fund No. 1, managed by Suseong Asset Investment and T3 Ventures.

PROGEN plans to utilize the newly acquired funds to accelerate the development of its primary clinical pipelines as well as subsequent projects.

JW Pharmaceutical, joining as a strategic investor, intends to collaborate with PROGEN on developing innovative drug candidates leveraging PROGEN’s multi-target fusion protein platform, NTIG technology. Additionally, PROGEN is preparing for a technical evaluation in the third quarter of this year, aimed at transferring its listing to the KOSDAQ market.

PROGEN’s leading pipeline, PG-102, is a GLP-1/GLP-2 dual receptor agonist, designed with a novel paradigm enabling tailored prescriptions for obesity, diabetes associated with obesity, and lean diabetes by uncoupling effective dosages for weight loss and blood sugar regulation. Currently, PG-102’s subcutaneous formulation has nearly completed patient recruitment for a Phase 2 clinical trial in South Korea. Meanwhile, the oral obesity treatment RPG-102 has demonstrated over 110% bioavailability in preclinical tests involving beagle dogs, paving the way for Phase 1 clinical trials in Australia.

PROGEN CEO Jong-Kyun Kim commented, “This funding round validates market confidence in PROGEN’s R&D capabilities, affirming both the global potential of our obesity and diabetes drug PG-102 and the competitiveness of our subsequent pipelines. We plan to focus intensively on R&D with this capital infusion, aiming for accelerated domestic market entry and global commercialization of PG-102.”