On April 30, 2019, ST Pharm (President Kim Kyung-jin) announced the signing of a technology transfer agreement for STP-4094, a candidate for influenza therapeutics, with the KRICT (Director Kim Sung-su) in the afternoon of the 29th at the latter’s conference room in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.
Under the agreement, the KRICT will transfer all of the issued patents, technologies, and joint research results of STP-4094 to ST Pharm which will then proceed with its independent development of the drug.
Previously, ST Pharm commissioned Dr. Kim Mi-hyun of the KRICT to validate the efficacy of a novel antiviral agent derived from its own library of hundreds of nucleoside compounds. The two parties derived candidate materials through joint research over a period of three years from 2016 and jointly applied for two domestic and overseas patents.
STP-4094 is a first-in-class drug candidate that prevents proliferation of influenza by suppressing the virus polymerase (PB1 subunit) involved in the replication of the influenza virus.
Notably, it is expected to suppress influenza types A and B, overcome the drug resistance issue of Tamiflu, and suppress human infection by avian influenza.
During clinical testing, excellent viral growth inhibition was identified in the animal test model, and reduced mortality from viral infections, improvement in lung damage, and alleviation of abnormal inflammatory responses were histopathologically identified.
Influenza is a highly infectious, acute respiratory disease caused by the influenza virus that is easily spread among humans. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), influenza incidence worldwide is as much as 5-10% in adults and 20-30% in children. In particular, pandemic influenza is very severe in children under 2 years of age and elderly people over 65 years of age, and severe cases can lead to death. The global market is estimated to be worth around $ 1.7 billion (as of 2016), excluding vaccines.
President Kim Kyung-jin of ST Pharm said, “Recently, the need to develop a new treatment to replace Tamiflu has emerged. We will focus on pre-clinical research and clinical development of the candidate material, whose technology has been transferred to us, for the development of a first-in-class new drug with excellent effects.”
Director Kim Sung-su of the KRICT mentioned, “We are pleased that both parties will derive a new candidate material through joint research over a three-year periods. We hope to develop a new drug that can actively respond to influenza pandemics by overcoming resistance to Tamiflu and optimizing the concomitant therapy.”
ST Pharm has been carrying out various new drug development projects since 2013 through its virtual R&D strategy, which is a low-cost, high-efficiency open innovation program. ST Pharm is currently working on three pre-clinical projects and eight initial stage research projects, and plans to apply for a global phase I IND of an AIDS treatment and a colorectal cancer treatment in the US and Europe.