What Future Medicine does

Future Medicine (퓨쳐메디신) is a clinical-stage South Korean biopharmaceutical company founded in June 2015 by Seoul National University College of Pharmacy faculty, headquartered in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do. The company develops novel therapies using a proprietary nucleoside-based drug discovery platform branded FOCUS™ (Futuremedicine Origin Compound library Universal System), which builds target-focused nucleoside libraries with structurally novel nucleobase and sugar fragments to enable pipeline diversification from a single core chemistry asset. The platform has produced seven pipeline candidates spanning metabolic disease (FM101 for NASH, glaucoma, diabetic nephropathy, and PBC), oncology (FM301 for refractory pancreatic cancer via Haspin kinase inhibition; FM401 for solid tumors as A2AAR antagonist; FM701 for NSCLC with LKB1/KRAS mutation via MDH1/2 dual inhibition), antivirals (FM203 for COVID-19, MERS, Zika), autoimmune disease (FM503 via IRAK-4/PIM-1 dual inhibition), and obesity (FM801 as a dual A2A/A3 adenosine receptor ligand).

The company's business model is licensing-driven and pre-commercial. It generates funding through a combination of venture capital and private equity rounds (Series A 61B KRW in 2018, Series B 70B KRW in 2019, Pre-IPO 63B KRW in 2023, plus a 6.5B KRW paid-in capital increase in 2020), Korean government grants from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Science and ICT (approximately 5B KRW committed across NASH and glaucoma clinical programs), and prospective technology transfer and licensing-out deals with global pharmaceutical companies. Future Medicine is listed on the KONEX market under ticker 341170 since July 27, 2022, and has applied for KOSDAQ transfer listing with NH Investment & Securities as lead manager. FM101 holds FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Primary Biliary Cholangitis (February 2021), Phase 2 trials are active in Europe and Australia, and Phase 2a IND approval was received from the Korean MFDS in February 2023. The company pursues global pharma partnerships through conference-based business development at BIO USA and other venues, and has built an execution ecosystem through 2023 partnerships with GI Innovation (metabolic immuno-oncology), Medi Rama (clinical operations), and AronTi (AI-driven discovery).

Name

Future Medicine

Legal name

Future Medicine Co., Ltd.

Website

https://futuremedicine.co.kr

Company type

Public

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Future Medicine (퓨쳐메디신) is a South Korean clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops nucleoside-based therapeutics across metabolic disease, oncology, antiviral, autoimmune, and obesity indications using its proprietary FOCUS™ drug discovery platform, licensing pipeline assets to global pharmaceutical partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Biopharmaceutical drug discovery and development

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing (325412)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Endocrinology & Metabolic Specialty Pharmaceuticals (HLAIACAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Oncology Specialty Pharmaceuticals (HLAIACAA), Specialty Care Pharmaceuticals (HLAIAAAB)

Keywords

• Nucleoside drug discovery
• Biopharmaceutical pipeline
• Clinical stage therapeutics
• Drug technology licensing
• Novel mechanism drug candidates

Headquarters

HQ city

Seongnam

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Technology Transfer / Licensing Out: License out drug candidates to global pharmaceutical companies after demonstrating clinical efficacy. The company has been in discussions with multiple global pharma companies for technology transfer of FM101 and other pipeline candidates.
2. Government Grants: Government funding for clinical development through programs such as the Ministry of Science and ICT's Innovative New Drug Pipeline Development Project and Ministry of Health and Welfare infectious disease treatment technology development projects.
3. Equity Financing: Pre-IPO and series funding rounds from bio-specialized venture capital and private equity firms to fund clinical trials and R&D operations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Future Medicine is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops novel small-molecule drug candidates based on its proprietary Nucleoside Library and FOCUS™ platform. The company advances a multi-indication pipeline of nucleoside-derived therapeutics (FM101, FM203, FM301, FM401, FM503, FM701, FM801) targeting NASH/MASH, glaucoma, refractory cancers, viral infections, autoimmune disease and obesity, with the commercial pathway being out-licensing of clinical-stage candidates to global pharmaceutical partners.

Product overview

Future Medicine is a nucleoside-based new drug development company with a diversified pipeline of drug candidates. The core offering consists of the Nucleoside Platform and FOCUS™ Platform that enable discovery and development of novel therapeutic compounds. The product portfolio includes multiple drug candidates across various therapeutic areas: FM101 for metabolic/inflammatory diseases (NASH, Glaucoma, Diabetic Nephropathy, PBC), FM203 for antiviral applications, FM301/FM401/FM701 for different cancer types, FM503 for autoimmune diseases, and FM801 for obesity. These candidates target novel mechanisms including A3AR modulation, HASPIN kinase inhibition, A2AAR antagonism, and MDH1/2 dual inhibition.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FM101 (NASH / Glaucoma / Diabetic Nephropathy / PBC) A3 adenosine receptor targeted nucleoside drug candidate for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases; currently in Phase 2 for NASH and Glaucoma and Phase 1 for Diabetic Nephropathy and PBC. Targets global pharmaceutical partners for technology licensing.
• FM203 (Antiviral) Broad-spectrum antiviral nucleoside drug candidate targeting COVID-19, MERS and Zika; in pre-clinical stage. Targets viral DNA/RNA polymerase, transmethylase and SAH hydrolase.
• FM301 (Refractory Pancreatic Cancer) Haspin kinase inhibitor anticancer drug candidate for refractory pancreatic cancer; pre-clinical stage. Targets a novel kinase with no prior drug development history.
• FM401 (Solid Tumors / Immuno-Oncology) A2AAR antagonist immuno-oncology drug candidate for solid tumors; pre-clinical stage. Preserves immune cell tumor-killing ability by blocking adenosine-A2AAR binding.
• FM503 (Autoimmune Disease) IRAK-4 / PIM-1 dual inhibitor autoimmune drug candidate for rheumatoid arthritis, lymphoma and atopic dermatitis; pre-clinical stage. Anti-inflammatory mechanism via NF-κB and IL-6 pathway interruption.
• FM701 (NSCLC LKB1/KRAS) Fourth-generation anticancer nucleoside candidate for NSCLC with LKB1/KRAS co-mutation; pre-clinical stage. Induces apoptosis through dual inhibition of malate dehydrogenase 1 and 2.
• FM801 (Obesity) Dual A2A / A3 adenosine receptor ligand obesity drug candidate that converts white adipose tissue to brown adipose tissue; pre-clinical stage with Phase 1 planned.
• Nucleoside Platform Core proprietary drug discovery technology platform based on nucleoside compounds characterized by good cell permeability, low species differences and high target specificity; underpins the company's pipeline.
• FOCUS™ Platform Target Focused Nucleoside Library drug discovery platform enabling efficient pipeline scaling via target-based library construction, customized screening per disease indication, and securing IP novelty through proprietary nucleobase and sugar fragment structures.

Quantifiable outcome

• FM101 reduced liver fibrosis area by up to 56% compared to FFD control in preclinical studies
• +4 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Medi Rama (메디라마)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 October 2023Clinical MOU signed for development of NASH treatment and anticancer drugs. Medi Rama VP Hwang Sun-jin, with experience at Gilead as Asia NASH Medical Advisor and extensive anticancer clinical development experience at Korean biotech companies, will oversee FM101 Phase 2 clinical trials and anticancer clinical design.
• GI Innovation (지아이이노베이션)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 October 2023Fourth-generation metabolic immuno-oncology drug joint clinical development research agreement signed on October 12, 2023 at GI Innovation headquarters. Both company representatives participated to develop effective treatments through joint research.
• AronTi (아론티어)coreTechnology or Integration · 4 May 2023AI-based new drug development partnership agreement signed to discover competitive drug candidates through AronTi's AI platform combined with Future Medicine's nucleoside library, aiming for global technology transfer.
• Korea Institute of Chemical Research (화학연구원)coreTechnology or Integration · 7 February 2023Technology transfer received from Korea Institute of Chemical Research for rheumatoid arthritis and lymphoma treatment substances. Development initiated based on transferred technology for autoimmune disease treatment.
• CJ Healthcare (씨제이헬스케어)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 December 2019Joint research MOU signed for immune checkpoint inhibitor candidate substances research. Collaboration in immune-oncology drug development alongside the AronTi partnership.
• Inje University (인제대학교)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 May 2019Technology transfer and joint research agreement signed for new drug development with Inje University Busan Paik Hospital. Professor Yang Jae-wook's patent technology for retinal or optic nerve disease prevention treatment transferred for joint development with total technology transfer fee of 440 million KRW.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Can-Fite BioPharma: Can-Fite is the most directly comparable peer: its lead asset CF102 (namodenoson) is an A3 adenosine receptor agonist being developed for NASH, the exact same target and indication as Future Medicine's FM101. Head-to-head preclinical data cited in Future Medicine's materials shows FM101 outperforming CF102 on fibrosis reduction.
• Terns Pharmaceuticals: Terns is a clinical-stage biopharma developing multiple NASH candidates (e.g., TERN-101 FXR agonist, TERN-201 VAP-1 inhibitor). It is a direct peer in stage, indication focus, and out-licensing/business-development orientation toward global pharma partners.
• Aligos Therapeutics: Aligos is a clinical-stage biopharma with assets in chronic hepatitis B and NASH/MASH. It overlaps Future Medicine in liver-disease therapeutics and nucleoside-/small-molecule chemistry background, making it a relevant indication-overlap peer.
• Galmed Pharmaceuticals: Galmed developed Aramchol for NASH and pursued Phase 3 development. As a small-cap, clinical-stage NASH-focused company, it is structurally comparable to Future Medicine's lead FM101 program.

Broad incumbents

• Madrigal Pharmaceuticals: Madrigal is the current NASH market leader with FDA-approved Rezdiffra (resmetirion). As the first-in-class commercial NASH therapeutic, Madrigal defines the competitive benchmark FM101 will be measured against and is the most likely large-pharma-style suitor for late-stage NASH assets.
• Intercept Pharmaceuticals: Intercept developed obeticholic acid for NASH/PBC and pursued FDA approval for these indications. Intercept's commercial experience in PBC and NASH makes it a relevant comparable for FM101's orphan-designated PBC program and NASH pipeline.
• Hanmi Pharmaceutical: Hanmi is one of Korea's largest specialty pharmaceutical companies with a strong oncology and metabolic-disease pipeline. As a Korean specialty pharma incumbent pursuing global out-licensing deals, Hanmi is the closest large-scale Korean comparable for Future Medicine's commercial model.

Regional players

• Yuhan Corporation: Yuhan is a major Korean pharmaceutical company with R&D and licensing partnerships across multiple therapeutic areas. Comparable as a Korea-headquartered specialty pharma player executing global licensing strategy, though significantly larger and more diversified than Future Medicine.
• Genexine: Genexine is a Korean clinical-stage biotech listed on KOSDAQ with a multi-asset pipeline including immuno-oncology candidates. Comparable as a KOSDAQ-listed Korean biotech pursuing global out-licensing of clinical assets.
• Boryung Pharmaceutical: Boryung is a Korean pharmaceutical company with both branded specialty products and pipeline assets, including a history of global licensing deals. Comparable as a Korean pharma pursuing pipeline development and out-licensing in similar therapeutic categories.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors11 records

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Future Medicine