K-Bio’s potential rises in targeted anticancer therapy

Korean companies introduce findings at international academic conferences

iLeadBMS’s Target Protein Degradation (TPD) candidate shows antitumor activity

PharosiBio’s candidate shows response in preclinical trial for colorectal cancer…’ aims to enter clinical trial stage soon’

The achievements made by the pharmaceutical and bio-industry companies in Korea in developing targeted antitumor therapies are being introduced at academic conferences overseas.

 

iLeadBMS and PharosiBio have announced positive preclinical study results, and have received the green light to enter main clinical trials.

 

The ESMO Targeted Anticancer Therapies Congress 2024 was held in Paris, France, for 3 days from February 26.

 

The European Society for Medical Oncology, one of the world's three major oncology societies, organizes the congress every year to showcase promising new targets and candidates.

 

On the 26th, iLeadBMS, a drug developer subsidiary of Ildong Pharmaceutical, presented clinical trial results on its IL2106, a molecular glue (targeted protein degradation, TPD), through a poster presentation.

 

Founded in December 2020, iLeadBMS is a bioventure that develops new drugs in the field of small molecules.

 

Ildong Pharmaceutical became the company’s largest shareholder in July 2021.

 

The TPD molecule being developed by iLeadBMS has a mechanism of action that degrades proteins that cause cancer and eliminates the target itself.

 

Targeted anticancer drugs inhibit tumor growth by acting on the target protein, but TPDs offer an advantage as they target the cause of the disease.

 

Although no TPD product has been commercialized yet, pharmaceutical companies that have seen the promise of the technology have been continuously joining in on the challenge.

 

In addition to Ildong Pharmaceutical, Novo Nordisk and Daewoong Pharmaceutical have entered the development stage.

 

iLeadBMS targets CDK12, a protein that regulates the expression of genes related to cancer.

 

The CDK12 protein is known to be expressed in several solid tumors, including breast and gastric cancers.

 

In a preclinical trial, IL2106 potently inhibited cells expressing triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-negative gastric cancer through targeted protein degradation.

 

IL6-110 was particularly successful in significantly reducing cyclin K levels in HCC70 cells that cause triple-negative breast cancer.

 

In a study conducted on mouse models, IL2106 demonstrated a favorable pharmacodynamic (PK) profile using a single oral dose.

 

The team concluded, "These findings can serve as evidence that molecular glues could serve as a novel CDK12/13 inhibitor.”

On the 26th, PharosiBio also announced through a poster presentation that it had confirmed the efficacy of its colorectal cancer drug candidate, PHI-501, in a preclinical trial.

 

PHI-501 is a bispecific antibody that targets pan-RAF and DDR1 (Discoidin Domain Receptor 1).

 

By targeting the two biomarkers, PharosiBio expects its candidate to show efficacy in inhibiting cancer cell growth and metastasis.

 

The preclinical trial was conducted on the mouse in vivo model to confirm PHI-501’s mechanism of action as monotherapy, on whether it can overcome resistance to BRAF inhibitors while showing antitumor effects.

 

Results showed that PHI-501 suppressed tumor growth in a colon cancer xenograft model with BRAF or KRAS mutations.

 

More specifically, PHI-501 showed 96% tumor suppression in the BRAF xenograft model and 83.3% tumor suppression in the KRAS xenograft model.

 

PHI-501 also suppressed tumor growth by 76.1% in a model that showed resistance to the recently approved colorectal cancer drug Vitrakvi by Ono Pharmaceutical.

 

Based on the positive results found in preclinical trial results, PharosiBio plans to initiate clinical trials to confirm the efficacy of PHI-501.