New AI-Powered Cancer Drugs Fuel Share Rally Of Korea’s Voronoi, Minting A New Billionaire
The post New AI-Powered Cancer Drugs Fuel Share Rally Of Korea’s Voronoi, Minting A New Billionaire appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. South Korea’s biotech sector is having its moment. Investor optimism about the pipeline of cancer drugs being developed by biotech company Voronoi has fueled a rally in its shares, which are up by 190% so far this year. The stock surge has minted the country’s newest billionaire in Hyuntae Kim, the company’s CEO. Kim, 49, is Voronoi’s largest shareholder with a 35% stake worth $1 billion. (His wife, Kim Dae-yeon, has an additional holding of close to 1%.) The 4.3 trillion won ($2.9 billion) market cap company, which had no revenue last year, reported sales of a modest 7.5 billion won ($5.1 million) for the first nine months of 2025, while losses widened by 62% to 38.4 billion won. Despite the company being in the red, investors are betting that its two most promising cancer drug candidates—VRN10 and VRN11—will turn things around. VRN10 is designed to block a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2, which causes aggressive growth in certain breast cancers. The VRN11 aims to inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, which is commonly mutated in non-small cell lung cancer and causes abnormal cell growth. Phase 1 clinical trials of both drugs commenced in the first quarter of this year and are expected to finish around mid-2026. “VRN11 is progressing step by step toward validation,” Hyunsoo Ha, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, said in a report published this month. “VRN10 is also on track,” he added. Based in Incheon, west of Seoul, Voronoi uses a proprietary AI platform called Voronomics that “revolutionizes the drug development process, enabling the rapid discovery of development candidates,” the company says on its website. In September, Voronoi had signed a $14.5 million technology transfer deal with New York-based Anvia Therapeutics for its VRN04 experimental drug that targets RIPK1,…
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