Coegin Pharma is a Nordic biotechnology company with a broad pipeline of innovative dermacosmetic products and pioneering drug candidates. Our projects have great potential to improve the quality of life for people with cosmetic challenges and for the treatment of patients with serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes complications. The strategy is to create value by developing and commercializing dermacosmetic products in partnership with significant commercial players and early handing over "first-in-class" drug candidates to larger pharmaceutical companies.
With our three portfolio companies, we have a pipeline consisting of both dermacosmetic product candidates for stimulating hair growth and pioneering drug candidates in cancer. In the parent company Coegin Pharma, projects in diabetes complications are run based on a close collaboration with Lund University.
Business model and strategy
Business model with a focus on identifying new groundbreaking projects with clear potential for value added.
1. Identification of new projects
These are examples of our requirements on potential new projects:
- Projects with strong research data and patent protection
- Projects with significant commercial potential
- Projects with potential for novel breakthrough treatment methodologies
- Projects aimed at a clearly identified market need and definable milestones
- Projects that can benefit from Coegin Pharma's competencies, structure and resources
- Projects with manageable capital needs
- Projects with potential for early exit
2. Financing of the portfolio companies
The board and management have a long and broad experience in financing combined with a focused and efficient business model. We are therefore well positioned to identify, finance and add value to pharmaceutical projects in a cost-effective and scalable manner.
Coegin Pharma’s status as a listed company provides access to a broad shareholder base and public capital, but the model with portfolio companies also creates opportunities to attract specialist investors with a direct interest towards a specific development project in a portfolio company. The financing model can therefore be adapted to the needs of each portfolio company. Coegin Pharma’s total capital need may be reduced, if the board of directors decides to provide the opportunity for direct investment in one or more of the portfolio companies.
Our strategy is, through a mix of financing models, a cost-effective structure and the possibility of external direct investments in portfolio companies, to pursue a broad portfolio of projects without significantly accelerating Coegin Pharma’s capital need. Coegin Pharma can thus combine the advantages of being a listed company with those of being able to attract specialised investors or potential future partners, who are offered the opportunity to invest directly in Coegin Pharma’s unlisted portfolio company. The financing strategy, which can be tailored to the needs of each portfolio company, enables Coegin Pharma to actively broaden its project portfolio, with a limited financing need.
3. Value-adding and scalability
Our strengths include a strong network of experts across the entire drug development value chain, from research and clinical development to commercial positioning and exit. We can use the right resources at the right time in a flexible way, and cost-effectively add value to the portfolio companies’ projects. We ensure that projects are run by the right people, with experience and competencies in the relevant therapeutic area, that projects have a well-defined strategy for regulatory approvals, and an equally well-defined strategy for commercialisation of the drug candidate.
Another important part in being able to run the portfolio companies cost-effectively, is the well-developed platform for project and corporate governance, as well as the administration that we has established. The portfolio companies can benefit from shared administrative and research resources, and established corporate governance practices, providing synergies such as reduced overhead costs and effective governance.
4. Exit
The portfolio must have well-defined exit and partner strategies with a balance between a reasonable capital requirement, attractive commercial conditions, and the potential for early exit after Coegin Pharma has added value to the projects. Coegin Pharma defines exit as an out-licensing to international industrial players, but the concept of exit can also include spinout with subsequent listing or sale of a portfolio company to a larger life science company where Coegin Pharma's project/portfolio company complements the acquirer's existing operations. Coegin Pharma's portfolio companies therefore have ongoing dialogues with, among others, potential industrial partners in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries as well as cosmetics companies.