Hanmi Pharmaceutical's Five Innovative Anticancer Drugs Reveal Research Progress at AACR in the USA

Hanmi Pharm Headquarters Exterior (Provided by Hanmi Pharm)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Hanmi Pharmaceutical announced major research results on five innovative anticancer new drugs under its own development at AACR, the world's largest cancer academic conference.

On the 13th, Hanmi Pharmaceutical revealed that it presented research results on five new drugs?▲Velbarafenib (HM95573/GDC5573) ▲HM43239 ▲HM97662 ▲HM87277 ▲HM97346?at AACR, attracting great interest from conference participants.

AACR is the world's largest cancer-related academic society with over 48,000 members from 127 countries. This year, it is held online from the 10th to the 15th. By presenting research on five new drugs, Hanmi Pharmaceutical announced the largest number of studies among Korean pharmaceutical and bio companies participating in this year's AACR.

Among them, Velbarafenib's preclinical results were announced at this conference. Velbarafenib is an oral targeted anticancer drug that inhibits RAF and RAS, which are mitogen-activated protein kinases mediating intracellular signal transduction. It was previously licensed out to Roche's Genentech in 2016.

According to the announcement, Velbarafenib showed excellent efficacy in BRAF-mutant melanoma models. It also demonstrated high permeability across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), confirming superior tumor growth inhibition and extended survival in brain metastasis melanoma models compared to controls. Notably, it significantly suppressed tumor growth in NRAS-mutant melanoma models and, when combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors, enhanced anticancer effects and induced activation of CD8+ T-cells recognizing tumor antigens.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical also stated that a domestic Phase 1 clinical trial involving 137 patients with advanced melanoma and colorectal cancer is progressing smoothly alongside this research. Genentech recently began recruiting subjects this month for a global Phase 1 clinical trial of various combination therapies targeting NRAS-mutant melanoma patients.

At this conference, Hanmi Pharmaceutical also presented preclinical results of HM43239, which is attracting attention as a next-generation treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. HM43239 is an innovative drug candidate that synergistically inhibits FLT3 (FMS-like tyrosine kinase) mutations causing acute myeloid leukemia and spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK). Hanmi Pharmaceutical explained that preclinical results confirmed a strong inhibitory effect on cancer cell proliferation.

HM43239 was designated as an orphan drug by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 and received orphan drug designation from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2019. Phase 1 clinical trials are currently underway in the U.S. and Korea.

In addition, Hanmi Pharmaceutical presented preclinical results of HM97662, which simultaneously inhibits EZH2 and EZH1?enzymes that cause various solid tumors as well as hematologic cancers such as malignant lymphoma. It also disclosed preclinical research results of HM87277, an adenosine triple antagonist immuno-oncology drug with a novel mechanism, and introduced the newly developed LSD1 inhibitor anticancer drug HM97346.

Se-Chang Kwon, CEO of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, said, “We focus on investing over 20% of our annual sales in research and development (R&D) to do our best in developing global innovative new drugs,” adding, “The innovative anticancer pipeline announced at this AACR will brighten Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s future value and establish itself as a strong growth engine for Hanmi.”

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