Curacle Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ: 365270; CEO Jaehyeon Ryu), a company specializing in intractable vascular diseases, announced today that it has entered into a licensing agreement with U.S.-based Memento Medicines (“Memento”) for MT-103, a bispecific antibody for retinal diseases jointly developed with antibody development company MabTics (CEO Nam-Kyung Lee). The total deal value is up to USD 1,077,750,000, including upfront and milestone payments.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Curacle and MabTics will receive an upfront payment of USD 8 million. In addition, they are eligible to receive up to USD 1,069,750,000 in milestone payments, consisting of USD 82,250,000 in development and regulatory milestones and USD 987,500,000 in commercial milestones. The agreement grants worldwide rights and includes the potential for development expansion into additional indications beyond retinal diseases.

 

Pursuant to the joint research and development agreement between Curacle and MabTics, revenues generated from this licensing deal will be shared equally (50:50) between the two companies.

 

Memento, the counterparty to the agreement, is a “NewCo” type company established by global venture capital firms and investors. The NewCo model involves creating a dedicated entity centered around a specific asset, raising external capital to advance drug development. It is characterized by an organization comprised of specialized personnel, rapid decision-making, and a focused approach to a small number of pipelines to maximize development efficiency.

 

MT-103 is a bispecific antibody that combines Tie2 activation with anti-VEGF mechanisms, designed to simultaneously promote vascular stabilization and inhibit pathological neovascularization. Curacle and MabTics have been co-developing this candidate since entering into a joint R&D agreement in July 2024.

 

Target indications for MT-103 include major retinal diseases such as wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME). The global retinal therapeutics market is projected to reach approximately KRW 50 trillion by 2030 (source: GlobalData). Historically, anti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies such as Eylea (Regeneron/Bayer) and Lucentis (Roche/Novartis) have dominated the market. More recently, the introduction of bispecific antibodies such as Vabysmo (Roche) has accelerated a shift from monoclonal to bispecific therapies.

 

In preclinical studies, MT-103 demonstrated superior efficacy in reducing vascular leakage and neovascularization compared to Eylea and a Vabysmo surrogate antibody. These results were presented as an oral presentation at ARVO 2026, the world’s largest ophthalmology conference, held in Denver, USA.

 

Jaehyeon Ryu, CEO of Curacle, stated:
“Global healthcare-focused investors have come together to advance MT-103, and we believe their capital strength and development expertise will enable fast and systematic development and commercialization. We expect this to become another successful example of the increasingly prominent NewCo model in the biopharmaceutical industry.”

 

Namkyung Lee, CEO of MabTics, added:
“This agreement represents a case where a large-scale global licensing deal was achieved based solely on early-stage preclinical data, demonstrating our antibody design and development capabilities on the global stage. Our strategic approach of balancing scientific rationale with commercial potential was instrumental, and our collaboration with Curacle enabled us to successfully execute this strategy.”

 

MabTics is an antibody-focused biotech company founded in 2022 as a spin-off from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB). Based on its EAGLES platform, the company develops monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Curacle has maintained a strategic investment and partnership with MabTics since its early stages and currently holds a 19.5% equity stake in the company.

 

Since signing a joint R&D agreement in July 2024, the two companies have been collaborating on eight antibody pipeline programs, including MT-101, MT-103, MT-201, and MT-202.

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