Press releases

QuantaMatrix Passes Preliminary Review for KOSDAQ Listing

IPO to accelerate domestic and European businesses, and completion product pipelines

June 26, 2020, 08:00 KST, Seoul, Korea - QuantaMatrix (CEO: Dr. SungHoon Kwon), a South Korea based company that develops clinical microbiology diagnostic systems, announced that on June 25 it passed a preliminary review for listing on the Korea stock exchange (KOSDAQ).

QuantaMatrix is in the process of listing on the KOSDAQ through the technology exception policy. The company proved its technological competitiveness by obtaining all A’s from both the Korea Technology Finance Corporation and the Korea Enterprise Data in the technical evaluation conducted in November last year. Subsequently, the company submitted a request for listing preliminary review to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on April 14 and received the approval on April 25.

The company will submit a registration statement for full-scale IPO after reviewing the optimal timing for listing. The lead underwriter is Mirae Asset Daewoo. Co., Ltd.

QuantaMatrix specializes in diagnostics for clinical microbiology. The company has commercialized direct & Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (dRAST) in Korea and Europe based on its core technology with world-class competitiveness. dRAST can dramatically increase the survival rate of sepsis, which is a growing health concern with the global spread of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs”.

Sepsis, a systemic inflammatory response syndrome caused by a bacterial infection, is a serious and urgent medical condition in which the survival rate of patients can decrease by 7 to 9 percent per hour without appropriate antimicrobial treatment. Despite the various diagnostic and treatment options currently applied worldwide, the death rate of patients remains high at up to 30 to 40 percent. To successfully treat sepsis, it is crucial to prescribe appropriate antimicrobials early and to tailor optimal therapy for each patient in a faster and more accurate manner. QuantaMatrix’s dRAST provides the solution to address this need.

dRAST accurately identifies the optimal targeted antimicrobial agents in about 5 to 7 hours for patients in need of critical medical care whose blood cultures test positive for bacteria. The process is based on numerous patent-protected core technologies such as optics, microfluidic engineering, and big data analytics. The advantage of dRAST is the dramatic reduction in time to test results in comparison with the conventional antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods, which require more than two days after a positive blood culture.

The commercialization of dRAST not only has the potential to significant increases the survival rate of patients and reduce the misuse of antimicrobial agents, but also prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistant “superbug” bacteria while lowering socioeconomic costs in the treatment of severe sepsis patients.

QuantaMatrix has received regulatory approvals for dRAST in Korea and Europe and is already in clinical use at major hospitals in eight European countries. In addition, the company is planning to secure and commercialize various innovative diagnostic pipelines such as QDST (rapid drug susceptibility test for tuberculosis), QID (rapid bacterial identification), and products for early detection of dementia.

The high technological advancements and commercialization status of this diagnostic clinical microbiology company have already attracted a total of 71.5 billion won (approx. $60M) in investment. The company is considered one of the most promising health care startups in Korea and has been recognized in the global market for its technology and potential, with more than 40 percent of its accumulated investment from major value investment funds in the U.S. and Singapore, including Ezrah Charitable Trust.

"The listing will bring us the momentum to focus on further accelerating our business in Europe and completing various pipelines that are currently underway," said Dr. Sunghoon Kwon, CEO of QuantaMatrix. The company will become a global leader in diagnostic clinical microbiology with the application of its revolutionary world-class technologies that were not previously available.

About QuantaMatrix Inc.

QuantaMatrix Inc, a South Korea based clinical microbiology diagnostics company, was established in 2010 as a spin-off from Biophotonics and Nano Engineering Lab (BiNEL) at Seoul National University. The company is dedicated to solving the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial misuse and promote optimal antimicrobial prescribing. Its pipelines include rapid drug susceptibility test solution for tuberculosis and IVD kit for Alzheimer's disease. For more information please visit www.quantamatrix.com

About dRAST^TM

dRAST^TM is a direct & Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing system with microscopic time-lapse imaging, microfluidic agarose channel technology and proprietary software algorithms, which provides MIC-based phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing direct from positive blood cultures in as low as 5 hours; reducing time to result by up to 2 days compared with conventional methods. The rapid results allow for earlier optimization of antimicrobial agents in critically-ill patients with bloodstream infections and sepsis. Its EUCAST panel supports 18 Gram-positive/17 Gram-negative antimicrobial agents and the CLSI panel 17 Gram-positive/19 Gram-negative.

For Further Information, Please Contact:
Jeongmin Park
PR Department
Seoul IR Network
+82-2-783-0629 / icarusjm@seoulir.co.kr