Kuo Yi’s Partner Liquidia Increases L606 Investment, R&D Expenses Expected to Double in Second Half

Kuo Yi (6875-TW) announced today (14th) that its licensing partner, Liquidia, has disclosed the latest R&D developments. Liquidia has been progressively increasing its investment in L606 clinical trials throughout the first half of 2024 and expects overall R&D expenses in the second half to be twice those of the first half, with further increases anticipated by 2027 to accelerate global Phase III Re-Spire patient recruitment.

Kuo Yi noted that Liquidia invested approximately NT$350 million in the Re-Spire program during Q2 alone, nearly doubling the amount from Q1 and already exceeding the total R&D expenditure for the entire first half of 2023. Liquidia stated that, due to the ongoing patient enrollment in the global Phase III Re-Spire trial and the sequential launch of multiple additional trials, it expects R&D expenses in the second half of 2024 to be double those of the first half, with continued escalation planned through 2027.

Liquidia plans to simultaneously advance three clinical trials for L606: continuation of the open-label trial in the United States, the global Phase III Re-Spire trial targeting pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD), and the right heart hemodynamics study TRECOR for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The TRECOR trial is expected to initiate around mid-2027.

L606 is a liposomal long-acting inhaled formulation independently developed by Kuo Yi, with Liquidia responsible for clinical development and subsequent commercialization. The global Phase III clinical trial for L606 is currently in the patient enrollment phase, with clinical validation underway for product tolerability, dose optimization, and long-acting characteristics. Roger Jeffs, CEO of Liquidia, expressed high confidence in the global Phase III Re-Spire trial.