LG Chem in full throttle seeking anti-obesity and NASH drug

The South Korean company gives a presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference disclosing pipeline performance

LG Chem showcased its key new drug pipelines targeting obesity and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) at a global event.

 

The South Korean company plans to make the chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy and stem cell therapy development into their future growth engine.

 

On Jan.

 

13, LG Chem announced it would participate in the virtually convened JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2021 to present the key findings in 40 new drug pipelines.

 

The South Korean company’s session presentation was led by the president of LG Chem Life Sciences Company, Son Jeewoong.

 

At the event, the company addressed the key pipeline such as gout treatment currently undergoing clinical trial, hereditary obesity treatment and NASH treatment.

 

The gout treatment LG Chem is developing as a ‘best in class’ is a new drug that inhibits excessive secretion of uric acid, a major cause of gout.

 

In the Phase I trial in the U.S., the investigational drug was confirmed to effectively lower the uric acid level by only administering once-daily regardless of meal consumption.

 

The drug was evaluated to have verified superior effect and safety compared to existing options as no adverse reaction of hepatotoxicity and cardiovascular system was reported.

 

The company plans to complete the Phase II study in the U.S.

 

in the second quarter and analyze the result.

 

The company’s investigational anti-obesity drug activates an appetite regulating melanocortin-4 receptor gene (MC4R).

 

In last November, an injection with the same mechanism was approved by the U.S.

 

Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but LG Chem’s drug is expected to improve the administration convenience as a first orally taken drug in the class.

 

In September last year, the FDA designated the drug as an orphan drug and granted a market exclusivity benefit to delay a follow-on drug approval for seven years.

 

The investigational NASH drug that prevents expression of vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) related to liver inflammation and fibrosis currently has an ongoing Phase I clinical trial in the U.S.

 

Its preclinical trial found the drug lessens the risk of drug-drug interaction by being highly selective on the target protein.

 

Considering there is no NASH treatment commercialized worldwide at the moment, LG Chem is speeding up the Phase I clinical trial to complete it in the first quarter of 2022.

 

And at the event, the Korean company also specified the plan to develop a breakthrough anticancer treatment utilizing CAR-T cell and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) therapies.

 

The presenter excitedly expressed the company’s commitment to seek a next-generation stem cell therapy using a treatment-purpose gene.

 

President Son Jeewoong of LG Chem Life Sciences Company noted, “After the merge, the company invested approximately 600 billion won in R&D and drove the open innovation on at all corners to expand our pipeline with 40 candidate medicine.

 

The company would leap as a global bio company with a foundation to continuously release innovative new drug to the market, and also enhance the global new drug competitiveness through constantly conducted clinical trials in the U.S.”