MS Bio Soars 80% on KOSDAQ Debut on ECM Market Hopes

Shares of MS Bio (0013Y0) climbed on their first day of trading on the KOSDAQ market. Analysts attribute the gain to the company's steady earnings from its existing human tissue business and to expectations for growth as the market for extracellular matrix (ECM) skin boosters expands.

MS Bio shares traded at 14,070 won as of 9:39 a.m. on the 22nd, up 80.4% from the initial public offering price of 7,800 won, according to the Korea Exchange. That price put the company's market capitalization at about 383 billion won.

Founded in 2015, MS Bio is a medical device maker that uses human tissue and biomaterials to help treat and regenerate damaged tissue. Its main products include MyDerm, an acellular dermal matrix graft used in breast reconstruction and in treating severe burns and full-thickness skin defects; MyGen, a collagen tissue filler for soft tissue reconstruction; and MyBone, a dental reconstruction product.

The company has posted consistent earnings growth on the back of its existing human tissue business. Revenue reached 23.8 billion won last year, up 32.4% from a year earlier, while operating profit rose 42.9% to 8.6 billion won. The growth continued in the first half of this year, with revenue of 13.9 billion won and operating profit of 4.5 billion won.

MS Bio has recently been broadening into aesthetic medicine. In March, it launched Gicelle Lebonne, a skin booster based on human-derived ECM. GC Wellbeing handles sales and distribution for the product in the domestic market. Separately, MS Bio is developing a collagen-based tissue filler derived from porcine skin ECM as a medical device.

In South Korea, companies that make human tissue grafts have been entering the ECM skin booster market, prompting a series of valuation reassessments. Unlike fillers, which add volume, skin boosters focus on improving the skin's own elasticity and density by delivering active ingredients directly into the dermis or stimulating fibroblasts. L&C Bio shares have risen about 20% over the past year as expectations built for its ECM skin booster Rituo, while Hansbiomed is expanding its share of the aesthetic medicine market with its ECM skin booster Celldm.