EOFlow Invests in U.S. Subsidiary EOFlow, Inc.

EOFlow Co., a provider of wearable drug delivery systems (DDS), announced on Oct. 24 that it would invest 36.9 billion won in its U.S. subsidiary EOFlow, Inc.

The majority of this investment in EOFlow, Inc., approximately 31 billion won, will be used for collecting loans given by EOFlow to its U.S. subsidiary, and the interest on the loan. When excluding the loan collection, the actual investment will be approximately 5.9 billion won. Of these, 4 billion won will be used to acquire 30% ownership of Ferrex Therapeutics Inc. (Ferrex), and 1.9 billion won will be allocated for operations of EOFlow, Inc.

Ferrex, a newly established U.S. biotech venture, will focus on developing innovative solutions for treatment of iron overload disorder. EOFlow will provide an initial funding and its EOPatch wearable drug delivery system to Ferrex. EOFlow’s founding CEO Jesse J. Kim is temporarily assuming the role as the CEO of Ferrex, which is founded by Choi Hak-soo, a Harvard Medical School professor and the inventor of nanochelator platforms for iron overload disorder.

Choi is an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, faculty of Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and director of the Bioengineering & Nanomedicine Program of Mass General Hospital. Choi published well over 200 medical journals, including ones on nanochelators for iron overload therapy.

According to Harvard Health Publishing of Harvard Medical School, Iron overload disorder, or hemochromatosis, is a common genetic (inherited) disorder in which too much iron is absorbed from the digestive tract. This excess iron is deposited in the tissues and organs of the body, where it can become toxic and cause damage to heart, liver, and pancreas. Hemochromatosis occurs most often in people of northern European ancestry, especially those of Scottish, Irish, or English descent, and affects up to 1 in 200 people in the United States.

The iron overload disorder is treated by iron chelators such as Deferoxamine and Deferasirox of Novartis, but they all have common off-target problem (adverse side effects). The iron chelator invented by Choi solves this problem but needs to be infused over a certain period of time, requiring multiple visits to doctor’s office. EOPatch solves this problem by continuously infusing the new drug over the required period of time.

EOFlow CEO Kim said, “We are glad to announce the development of drug delivery solutions for iron overload with Ferrex Therapeutics. We are committed to providing people in need of advanced and user-friendly EOPatch drug delivery solutions.”

EOFlow previously announced an establishment of a drug-device combo joint venture for weight loss and NASH called “SanPlena” in the U.S. in December 2021 with the U.K. biotech firm Zihipp Limited, a spin out from Imperial College London.