Exclusive: Genexine Founder Claims 11.3 Billion Won Investment Unrelated to Clinical Trial Approval

[Anchor]

The founder of Genexine, who was pointed out for lobbying the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety over Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, has claimed that an 11.3 billion won investment he received was separate from the ministry's clinical trial approval. However, the court later determined that the founder sought financial gains through the approval.

Reporter Kim Deok-hyeon has more.

[Reporter]

On October 19, 2021, exactly one week after then-Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won asked the head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for a expedited process regarding the approval of Genexine's new drug clinical trial plan.

Kang Se-chan, the founder of Genexine, engaged in an 11.3 billion won transaction with Sejong Medical, a Kosdaq-listed company.

Under the agreement, Sejong Medical was to acquire 660,000 shares—accounting for 14 percent of Kang's total stake in Genexine—worth 6.3 billion won, along with 5 billion won worth of convertible bonds issued by Genexine.

Meeting with SBS, Kang claimed that this 11.3 billion won transaction was entirely separate from the food and drug safety ministry's approval.

[Kang Se-chan / Founder of Genexine: It is obviously clear that it was a separate issue from the investment. They invested because they expected it to lead to commercialization. It's about ultimate potential value.]

He also claimed that all the money received from selling his Genexine stake was reinvested for investment purposes, and that he actually suffered losses.

[Kang Se-chan / Founder of Genexine: After paying taxes, the rest was entirely reinvested. At the time, I even took losses to sell, reinvest, and try to grow this...]

However, the views of the prosecution and the first-instance court were different.

The prosecution's indictment stated that Kang had decided to pursue personal gains, such as inflating Genexine's stock price and selling shares through the clinical trial approval. The first-instance court also judged that Kang sought to secure financial benefits, such as attracting investments, by taking advantage of the approval obtained by submitting false materials, noting that the degree of blameworthiness is high.

However, since the 11.3 billion won involving Kang was not included as a criminal charge in the prosecution's indictment, recovery measures such as forfeiture or confiscation cannot be carried out at this time.

Sejong Medical, which purchased the stake from Kang, was acquired the following year by another Kosdaq-listed company, Granaria Bio M.

Sejong Medical's assets were used to purchase 130 billion won worth of Granaria's affiliate shares and bonds, eventually leading to its delisting.

Regarding the stock manipulation suspicions raised later concerning Granaria Bio M, nominee Kim's side stated that the stock manipulation and delisting incidents occurred nine months after nominee Kim contacted the food and drug safety minister, making it a completely separate matter unrelated to the nominee.

Nominee Kim did not provide any specific answers to reporters' questions on his way to work yesterday (September 9).

[Kim Seung-won / Justice Minister Nominee: Until the day of the confirmation hearing, the preparation team will explain step by step. You shouldn't do this.]

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Yang Hyun-chul | Video editing: Seunghee | Design: Kim Han-gil)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.