PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩0 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Genome & Company, transitioning from a microbiome-based immuno-oncology developer into a novel-target ADC specialist, is building a structure that reinvests cash flow from its cosmetics business into drug R&D, while facing the ongoing challenge of converting its pipeline into realized licensing outcomes amid persistent operating losses and frequent capital raises.
Consolidated 2025 revenue was KRW 24.6 billion with an operating loss of KRW 29.2 billion, marking a fourth consecutive year of losses that continued into the first half of 2026.
The company is shifting its pipeline focus from the microbiome therapeutic GEN-001 toward three novel-target ADC candidates aimed at CNTN4, ITGB4, and TROP2.
The cosmetics brand UIQ recorded about KRW 12 billion in sales in 2025, and the company has set a 2026 target of KRW 20 billion in sales with breakeven.
In 2026 alone, the company has carried out three separate financing events—two rights issues and one convertible bond—reflecting growing reliance on external funding.
Owners' net loss in Q2 2026 reached KRW 42.1 billion, far exceeding the operating loss, suggesting a non-operating item whose details warrant confirmation through subsequent disclosures.
Genome & Company, founded in 2015, is a microbiome-based drug developer that has recently shifted its strategic focus toward novel-target antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
Its former lead asset, GEN-001, is an oral immuno-oncology microbiome therapeutic based on a single strain of Lactococcus lactis that has been studied in Phase 2 trials for gastric and biliary tract cancers.
During this development, the company signed combination-trial agreements with global immuno-oncology drugs including MSD's Keytruda and Merck KGaA/Pfizer's Bavencio, making it one of the first microbiome developers to secure consecutive co-development deals with global pharmaceutical companies.
More recently, the company has positioned three novel-target ADC candidates—GENA-104 ADC targeting CNTN4, GENA-120 targeting ITGB4, and the bispecific ADC GENB-120 targeting both ITGB4 and TROP2—as its core growth drivers.
The parent antibody of GENA-104 was out-licensed to UK-based Ellipses Pharma in February 2025 as the immuno-oncology candidate EP0089, with Genome & Company retaining separate ADC development rights so that the immuno-oncology drug and the ADC are developed independently from the same antibody.
The company favors early, preclinical-stage out-licensing over self-funded clinical development, leveraging partners' capital and development capabilities.
Beyond drug development, it also operates a consumer business through its skin-microbiome cosmetics brand UIQ, building a dual cash-generation structure that does not depend solely on licensing income.
Its subsidiaries include US microbiome CDMO List Biological Laboratories (60% stake) and US-based Scioto Biosciences, which holds the brain-disorder microbiome candidate SB-121.
Competitively, as ADC development around validated targets such as HER2 and TROP2 becomes crowded, discovering novel targets has become a key variable in securing out-licensing deals.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩5.8B | -₩7.4B | −127.6% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩6.6B | -₩8.1B | −123.4% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩5.9B | -₩7B | −119.8% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩5.8B | -₩6.1B | −105.4% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩6.3B | -₩8B | −127.5% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩14.1B | -₩57.5B | -₩51.8B | −408.3% | −53.3% | 14.9% |
| 2023 | ₩14.3B | -₩55.1B | -₩47.5B | −385.4% | −76.0% | 42.8% |
| 2024 | ₩27.7B | -₩24.2B | -₩20.1B | −87.2% | −41.6% | 48.7% |
| 2025 | ₩24.6B | -₩29.2B | -₩6.4B | −118.9% | −6.1% | 26.6% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-23
Genome & Company posted large operating losses for four consecutive years from 2022 through 2025. Annual revenue rose from KRW 14.1 billion in 2022 and KRW 14.3 billion in 2023 to KRW 27.7 billion in 2024, before edging down to KRW 24.6 billion in 2025.
The operating loss narrowed from an extreme KRW 57.5 billion in 2022 and KRW 55.1 billion in 2023 to KRW 24.2 billion in 2024, more than halving, before widening again to KRW 29.2 billion in 2025.
The operating margin improved sharply from -408.3% in 2022 and -385.4% in 2023 to -87.2% in 2024, but deteriorated again to -118.9% in 2025.
Net loss attributable to owners shrank from KRW 51.8 billion in 2022 and KRW 47.5 billion in 2023 to KRW 20.1 billion in 2024 and KRW 6.4 billion in 2025, showing a clear multi-year trend of loss reduction.
On a quarterly basis, however, owners' net income turned positive at KRW 14.6 billion only in Q4 2025, before reverting to net losses of KRW 6.3 billion in Q1 2026 and KRW 42.1 billion in Q2 2026, meaning the annual improvement trend was not consistent at the quarterly level.
Notably, in Q2 2026 the operating loss was around KRW 8.0 billion while the net loss reached KRW 42.1 billion, an unusually wide gap that appears to reflect a significant non-operating item whose specific cause requires confirmation through subsequent detailed disclosures.
Operating cash flow remained negative every year from 2022 to 2025 (ranging from roughly -KRW 43.6 billion to -KRW 16.4 billion), reflecting the typical cash-burn structure of an R&D-focused biotech.
The debt ratio rose from 14.9% in 2022 to 48.7% in 2024 before falling to 26.6% in 2025, a shift likely attributable to capital increases that boosted shareholders' equity.
The industry backdrop the company points to is a global pharmaceutical patent cliff, in which major blockbuster drugs face concurrent patent expirations, prompting big pharma to actively pursue in-licensing of first-in-class drug candidates.
According to the company, an analysis of drugs launched since 2010 found that the gap in commercial success rates between first-in-class and best-in-class drugs has widened significantly, a structure disadvantageous to later entrants.
In the ADC market as well, a growing number of candidates have been developed around already-validated targets such as HER2 and TROP2, increasing the differentiation burden on later entrants, and since 2024 the center of gravity of global licensing deals has been shifting from validated targets toward novel ones.
In immuno-oncology, competition around next-generation targets such as LAG-3, TIGIT, and TIM-3 following PD-1/PD-L1 is already intense, making it a key question whether novel-target candidates in the GEN-001 family can function as biomarkers capable of selecting responsive patient populations.
Microbiome therapeutics themselves remain an early-stage modality with limited commercialization track records; while Genome & Company holds a leading domestic position, numerous global peers have run similar combination trials, making differentiation critical.
The KOSDAQ biotech sector tends to see significant share-price volatility tied to individual companies' licensing announcements and clinical data readouts, with the success of major licensing deals influencing sector-wide investor sentiment.
The company has set a target of achieving two or more out-licensing deals from the second half of 2026 through 2027, and stated it intends to maintain a pace of transferring at least one preclinical-stage candidate per year.
Having already out-licensed novel-target anticancer assets to a Swiss company in 2024 and to UK-based Ellipses Pharma in 2025, whether follow-on deals materialize is likely to be a key inflection point for future results.
EP0089, licensed to Ellipses Pharma, is preparing for Phase 1/2a dosing in Korea and Australia, with plans to expand into the US and Europe to enroll roughly 190 patients in total—a scale without precedent for a domestic-origin oncology Phase 1/2a program, making its progress worth watching.
In cosmetics, the company aims to grow sales from about KRW 12 billion in 2025 to over KRW 20 billion in 2026; achieving this target would put the cosmetics segment past breakeven, with a longer-term plan to scale revenue to the KRW 50–100 billion range and reinvest the resulting profit into drug R&D.
The three self-developed candidates—GENA-104 ADC, GENA-120, and GENB-120—all remain at the preclinical stage with early out-licensing as the goal, though market observers note that near-term outcomes are difficult to guarantee.
On the funding side, having already completed three financing events in 2026—two rights issues and one convertible bond—whether further fundraising occurs, and the resulting equity dilution, remains a point to monitor going forward.
Genome & Company's shares trade at a level that reflects a premium to net asset value, which can be interpreted as the market partially pricing in growth expectations for the pipeline and cosmetics business despite persistent losses.
The company does not pay dividends, so shareholder returns through dividends are not a realistic expectation at present.
Looking at multi-year results, the scale of operating losses narrowed sharply from the extreme levels of 2022–2023 into 2024, only to widen again in 2025, reflecting a pattern of improvement followed by setback; net losses also showed an annual narrowing trend, yet the most recent quarter (Q2 2026) saw a large loss recur.
Shareholders' equity increased substantially at the end of 2025 compared with the prior year, a change that appears mainly driven by capital raises rather than profit improvement.
Given this earnings volatility and the frequent history of fundraising, interpreting valuation likely requires looking beyond simple multiple comparisons to track the pace of future licensing outcomes and profitability improvement in the cosmetics segment.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-08-23
Genome & Company has already out-licensed novel-target anticancer assets to a Swiss company in 2024 and to UK-based Ellipses Pharma in 2025. EP0089, licensed to Ellipses Pharma, is actually progressing toward Phase 1/2a dosing, with concrete plans to expand into the US and Europe.
This shows that the company's strategy of early preclinical out-licensing has been realized at least at the deal-signing stage.
The cosmetics brand UIQ recorded about KRW 12 billion in sales in 2025 and targets KRW 20 billion in sales with breakeven in 2026. This is viewed as an attempt to diversify cash flow beyond reliance solely on uncertain drug licensing income.
If the target is achieved, there is room to shift toward a structure that does not depend entirely on external funding for drug R&D.
The company holds three ADC pipeline candidates targeting CNTN4, ITGB4, and TROP2, aligning with the global ADC deal market's shift from validated targets toward novel ones.
Intensifying patent cliffs among global big pharma companies, which are driving up demand for first-in-class drugs, are also cited as a favorable backdrop.
Market observers note that in the roughly six years since listing, the company has yet to secure a large-scale licensing outcome or meaningful cash inflow capable of structurally transforming its enterprise value.
The EP0089 agreement itself involved no upfront payment at signing, which raised concerns in the market about the likelihood of follow-on development. This backdrop leaves uncertainty over when the early out-licensing strategy will translate into monetization.
In 2026 alone, three separate financing events took place—two rights issues and one convertible bond—during which cash and cash equivalents shrank substantially. Amid growing reliance on external funding, the possibility of further equity dilution persists if additional fundraising continues.
Analyses generally suggest it is difficult to expect near-term out-licensing outcomes for assets such as GENA-104 ADC and GENA-120, which remain at the preclinical stage.
In addition, whether CNTN4 can function as a biomarker capable of selecting responsive patient populations, and whether it can produce differentiated responses in patients refractory to existing immuno-oncology drugs, remain unconfirmed variables.
GENA-104 ADC, GENA-120, and GENB-120 all remain at the preclinical stage, leaving uncertainty over whether early out-licensing will actually translate into signed deals. EP0089 also requires its planned 190-patient trial to proceed as scheduled for follow-on value to be realized.
Given the nature of novel targets, the lack of validated biomarkers may take time to demonstrate clinical differentiation.
Operating cash flow has been negative for four consecutive years, indicating that internal cash generation remains insufficient. The completion of three separate financing events—rights issues and a convertible bond—in 2026 alone shows that reliance on external funding has become structural. If further fundraising continues, existing shareholders could face ongoing equity dilution.
The ADC market already sees intense competition around validated targets such as HER2 and TROP2, and commercial success is difficult for later entrants unable to demonstrate differentiation.
In immuno-oncology as well, competition around next-generation targets such as LAG-3 and TIGIT is intensifying, so whether Genome & Company's novel-target assets will be recognized as sufficiently differentiated in the market remains to be seen.
Q3 2026 earnings disclosures should be checked for revenue, the scale of operating losses, and progress toward the KRW 20 billion cosmetics sales target.
It is worth confirming whether the company's stated target of signing two or more out-licensing deals is actually met, and which pipeline assets (GENA-104 ADC, GENA-120, GENB-120) are involved.
Progress on Ellipses Pharma's expansion of EP0089 Phase 1/2a patient enrollment into the US and Europe should be monitored.
Disclosures or IR statements regarding whether the cosmetics business met its annual sales target (KRW 20 billion) and achieved breakeven should be reviewed.
If new financing disclosures such as additional rights issues or convertible bonds appear, the scale of resulting equity dilution and the stated use of proceeds should be checked.
Genome & Company is pursuing a dual strategy of shifting its business focus from microbiome-based immuno-oncology toward novel-target ADCs, while simultaneously building a cosmetics business intended to generate cash for reinvestment in drug development.
Annual results have alternated between improvement and setback, with the operating loss narrowing sharply from the extreme levels of 2022–2023 into 2024 before widening again in 2025, and while the net loss narrowed on an annual basis, a large loss recurred in Q2 2026.
The track record of already securing two out-licensing deals in 2024 and 2025 is a positive factor, though market assessments also note that the company has yet to secure a large-scale cash inflow capable of structurally transforming its enterprise value since listing.
The three financing events completed in 2026 reflect both the need to secure resources for continued R&D and concerns over equity dilution.
Whether the cosmetics segment meets its KRW 20 billion sales target and whether additional out-licensing deals materialize for the novel-target ADC pipeline are likely to be the key variables for future earnings and cash-flow improvement.
Investors should continue to track these business and financial structural changes through upcoming quarterly results and licensing disclosures.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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