Autotelic Bio, an innovative drug development company led by CEO Taehoon Kim, announced that it has been officially selected for the “2025 Deep Tech Challenge Project (DCP)” administered by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and has signed a formal agreement for project implementation.

Through this selection, Autotelic Bio will receive KRW 3.6 billion in R&D funding over the next three years. In addition, upon achieving key technical milestones and securing follow-on investments, the company may receive up to KRW 4 billion in matching funds. Together with public and private investments, total project funding is expected to reach up to KRW 10 billion.

The Deep Tech Challenge Project is a national initiative designed to address critical technological challenges and promote the innovative growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. The program targets high-potential companies that have secured more than KRW 2 billion in prior private investment and is supported by the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) as a specialized implementing organization.

Autotelic Bio was selected for its project titled “Development of a First-in-Class ALS Therapy through the Establishment of a Brain Delivery Enhancement Platform for Brain-Targeted ASOs.” Leveraging its proprietary brain delivery platform technology, C-Duplex™, the company aims to significantly enhance the brain delivery efficiency of novel antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) while completing comprehensive non-clinical studies.

For this project, Autotelic Bio serves as the lead organization of a consortium comprising Korea’s leading neuroscience research institutions. Participating partners include the Korea Medical Device Development Fund (K-MEDI Hub), Sungkyunkwan University, the Korea Brain Research Institute, and the Clinical Efficacy Evaluation Center for Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders (CLEVERcns) at Seoul National University Hospital. Together, they will collaborate across the entire research spectrum, from mechanism studies to animal efficacy testing.

Hong Yongrae, Vice President and CTO of Autotelic Bio, stated, “Korean RNA platform companies such as OliX and Rznomics have recently enhanced the global standing of K-Bio through large-scale technology transfer agreements with multinational pharmaceutical companies. Building on this project selection, Autotelic Bio will also demonstrate the value of its ASO-based innovative drugs and C-Duplex™ platform, and strive to achieve early global licensing successes.”

If successfully commercialized, the ASO therapeutics and brain delivery platform developed under this project are expected to provide new treatment options for patients suffering from intractable central nervous system (CNS) disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

C-Duplex™ technology is recognized for its ability to dramatically enhance brain distribution of ASO drugs while extending systemic persistence, thereby reducing dosing frequency and improving patients’ quality of life. Furthermore, its platform scalability has been validated by demonstrating enhanced brain delivery not only for proprietary ASOs but also for commercially available ASO products.

Based on the high-value drug pipeline and platform technologies secured through this project, Autotelic Bio plans to actively pursue licensing-out opportunities with global pharmaceutical companies while also exploring independent commercialization of its platform services.