Olipass wins court-led rehabilitation as creditor deadlines slip to November

Olipass, the Kosdaq-listed RNA drug developer, said Monday that a Suwon court has opened rehabilitation proceedings for the company, a decision it said is meant to preserve its value as a going concern while it works through a liquidity squeeze.

The Suwon Rehabilitation Court issued the commencement decision on June 5, according to a regulatory filing by the company. Kim Tae-hyun, the chief executive, is serving as the court-appointed administrator overseeing the case.

The company applied to the Suwon Rehabilitation Court on May 7, saying the application followed a deterioration in its operating environment at home and abroad and problems with cash liquidity.

The filing was a corrected disclosure. Olipass had originally filed the commencement decision on Sept. 10 and refiled it on Monday to reflect a change in the rehabilitation timetable. Claims by rehabilitation creditors, secured rehabilitation creditors and shareholders can be filed from July 2 to July 22; the court's examination of those claims and shareholder interests was originally scheduled to run from July 23, and the corrected schedule now gives creditors until Nov. 6 to complete it. The company now has until Dec. 16 to submit its rehabilitation plan.

"This application for the commencement of rehabilitation proceedings is a decision to maintain the company's normalization and its value as a going concern, based on its retained technology, core assets, research and development capabilities and business continuity," Olipass said on its website.

Olipass said it will keep developing its main pipelines during the proceedings, including its RNA-based platform technology, a non-narcotic painkiller and a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neurodegenerative condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and continue ongoing domestic and overseas partnership and business talks to the extent it can.