[Trading Trend] 'IPO Reboot' Novelty Nobility Begins Over-the-Counter Trading... Will It Prove Its Corporate Value After Twists and Turns?

Recently, antibody drug development specialist Novelty Nobility selected Hana Securities as its new lead underwriter, kickstarting its push for a KOSDAQ relisting. As news of the renewed KOSDAQ listing push spread, its first trading also recently began in the over-the-counter (OTC) market, drawing the attention of investors.

As of May 2026, Novelty Nobility's corporate value formed in the OTC market is around 130 billion to 140 billion won. This is not a significantly increased figure compared to the corporate value of around 120 billion won recognized at the time of its previous funding round at the end of 2024. Furthermore, the corporate value of the stock options recently issued by the company is also understood to be at the 120 billion won level. Thus, the figure '120 billion' is essentially the value recognized both internally (stock options) and by external investors (paid-in capital increase).

As the company is currently known to be preparing for a Pre-IPO round, attention is gathering on how much value it will be recognized for. This is because the corporate value recognized during the Pre-IPO can also affect its price in the OTC market.

Promising Biotech Hit an 880 Billion Won Jackpot, Withdrew IPO Plan Due to Partner's M&A Obstacle

Novelty Nobility is a biotech company founded in 2017 by Professor Park Sang-gyu of Ajou University's College of Pharmacy, and is developing treatments for immune diseases, cancer, and eye diseases based on its fully human antibody platform 'PREXISE-D'. In particular, in February 2022, it drew significant market attention by out-licensing (LO) its autoimmune disease treatment candidate 'NN2802' to ValenzaBio in the U.S. in a deal worth approximately 880 billion won.

Presenting such major licensing achievements as grounds for commercialization, the company received 'A' grades from both evaluation agencies in the technology assessment and filed for a preliminary IPO review. However, what seemed like a smooth IPO journey was blocked by an unexpected variable: a change in the partner company's governance structure. During the process of partner ValenzaBio being acquired by Acelyrin and subsequently absorbed and merged into Alumis, the R&D strategy was revised to focus on late-stage clinical trials, and the rights to the core pipeline NN2802 were returned to the original developer. As the core commercialization justification for the IPO (LO achievement) disappeared, the company ultimately had to decide on a voluntary withdrawal about half a year after filing for the preliminary IPO review.

Attempt to Sell to Koas to Secure Clinical Funds... 'Fell Through' Due to FI Opposition

After withdrawing its preliminary IPO review, Novelty Nobility made an unconventional decision to accelerate clinical development and secure a mid-to-long-term runway (resources). It pursued a contract to hand over management rights by executing a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase worth 50 billion won to 'Koas', an office furniture company listed on the KOSPI.

This was strongly natured as a desperate measure to secure the large-scale R&D capital essential for new drug development. However, this plan ultimately fell through after facing fierce opposition from existing financial investors (FIs). The existing shareholders disagreed, taking issue with the fact that the controlling stake of the biotech company would be transferred to a furniture company in a state of capital impairment, and that the corporate value applied to the contract was heavily discounted to 90 billion won.

[Source: Novelty Nobility Homepage]

C-Level Reinforcement and Joining Hands with Hana Securities... 'Restarting' IPO Led by ADC Clinical Trials

After terminating the contract with Koas, Novelty Nobility carried out high-intensity restructuring to slim down the organization and realigned its pipeline strategy focusing on immune and inflammatory diseases. At the same time, it realigned its forces for a renewed IPO attempt by recruiting a large number of experts to the C-level, including Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) Vice President Park Chan-hee and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Managing Director Kang Yoon-goo.

Currently, the company's new IPO drivers are the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) anticancer drug 'NN3201' and the returned 'NN2802'. NN3201 is undergoing Phase 1a clinical trials in the U.S., and NN2802 is preparing to enter Phase 1b/2a clinical trials in South Korea.

Having selected Hana Securities as its new lead underwriter, Novelty Nobility plans to achieve a new global technology transfer result within the first half of this year and apply for another technology assessment based on this. Although its corporate value in the OTC market currently hovers around a rather conservative 130 billion won range to expect an explosive upward revision at the Pre-IPO stage, the clinical data and new licensing-out (LO) achievements the company is newly preparing are expected to be the key deciding factors in having its intrinsic value re-evaluated in the future public offering market.