Yuhan Corporation Announces Preclinical Clinical Trial of Two Immuno-Oncology Drugs at the ‘American Cancer Society’

[의학신문·일간보사=김영주 기자]The preclinical study results of YH32367 (ABL105) and YH29407, which are being developed by Yuhan Corporation (CEO Wook-Je Cho) as immuno-oncology drugs, will be presented at the American Cancer Society (AACR 2022).

The results of this study will be presented as a poster at the American Cancer Society (AACR 2022) annual conference to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA from April 8 to April 13 (US time). It was released on March 8th through the society website.

YH32367 is a drug jointly researched by Yuhan Corporation and ABL Bio (CEO Lee Sang-hoon). It is an anticancer agent that specifically binds to HER2-expressing tumor cells and increases the anticancer activity of immune cells through stimulation of ‘4-1BB’, a T-immune cell activation receptor. Is expected.

YH32367 is a dual antibody being developed for patients who show resistance to conventional chemotherapy in a number of solid cancers such as breast cancer, gastric cancer, and lung cancer by increasing tumor-specific immune activity and inhibiting tumor cell growth at the same time. YH32367 showed significantly superior anticancer efficacy compared to the control antibody in various preclinical experiments on HER2-expressing tumors, and safety was confirmed in preclinical toxicity studies. As it is expected to have relatively low side effects and excellent anticancer efficacy compared to competing drugs with similar mechanisms, it is expected to stand out in the global anticancer drug market as well as in Korea.

In the case of YH32367, the IND document was submitted to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in March of this year, and development is underway with the goal of starting a phase 1 clinical trial in the second half of this year. It is also planning to conduct a phase 1 clinical trial in Australia.

YH29407 is a small molecule immunotherapy developed by Yuhan Corporation and jointly researched with Professor Cho Byung-cheol, director of the Lung Cancer Center at Yonsei Cancer Hospital. Have. At the American Oncology Association, the results of major preclinical efficacy will be presented by Professor Byung-Chul Cho’s research team.

YH29407 is a drug showing superior pharmacokinetics and efficacy profile compared to known IDO-1 inhibitors. According to the published results, YH29407 effectively increased T cells in the tumor microenvironment when the PD-1 antibody was co-administered compared to the control drug, and demonstrated excellent anti-tumor effect and improved survival rate through animal models. Based on the results of this study, Yuhan announced that YH29407 is an optimal combination drug for immune checkpoint inhibitors, including PD-1/PD-L1, in IDO-1 overexpressed solid cancer patients. It is expected that it will provide a new opportunity for the treatment of patients who do not respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors.