Incon "Zyversa Accelerates Development of COVID-19 ARDS Treatment... IC100 to Enter Clinical Trials This Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Incon announced on the 6th that Jaiber has received a request from the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), a medical technology development consortium under the U.S. Department of Defense Medical Research and Development Command, to develop a treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the leading cause of death from complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and has submitted an application for the development of an ARDS treatment.

MTEC is a consortium under the U.S. Department of Defense that provides funding to develop advanced medical technologies. It currently has more than 350 member companies. To develop treatments for ARDS, a major cause of death from COVID-19, MTEC plans to provide approximately 20 billion KRW each to 5 to 6 companies, totaling about 100 billion KRW in funding.

Jaiber already holds intellectual property rights for an acute lung injury (ALI) treatment, which can be expanded into an ARDS treatment, based on the inflammation regulator IC100. This time, Jaiber was preliminarily selected by MTEC after being recognized for the feasibility of IC100 as an ARDS treatment and has submitted a white paper on IC100. The company explained that since IC100 is noted as a novel mechanism treatment that blocks the root cause of inflammation, it has a high possibility of being finally selected.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome is caused by an excessive immune response known as a "cytokine storm." This immune response causes severe damage to the lungs, threatening life, and is identified as a major cause of death from COVID-19, prompting global efforts to develop treatments.

Jaiber’s ARDS treatment candidate, IC100, specifically inhibits the ASC protein necessary for the formation of the inflammasome, a multiprotein complex involved in the production of cytokines, proteins related to inflammation and immune responses, thereby directly blocking the formation of the inflammasome. Notably, among ARDS treatment candidates known to inhibit inflammasome formation to control cytokine storms, Jaiber’s IC100 is the only one based on a single antibody, offering the advantage of precisely and efficiently targeting only ASC to regulate inflammasome formation.

A company official stated, “By submitting the application to MTEC, a specialized consortium for advanced medical technology development under the U.S. Department of Defense, all preparations for ARDS treatment development have been completed. Once approved by MTEC, we plan to immediately proceed to Phase 1 clinical trials,” adding, “Through fast-track clinical trials, Jaiber’s ARDS treatment is expected to be commercialized within this year.”

He continued, “Since Jaiber’s IC100, a novel anti-inflammatory treatment that blocks the root cause of inflammation, has been recognized by the prestigious U.S. bio-pharmaceutical newspaper BioCentury, we will do our best to develop treatments for ARDS, a complication more severe than COVID-19, based on our technological capabilities.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.