InscoBi "Selected for Government BIG Leading Project Phase 1 with Apimez Natural Extract-Based Research"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Apimez, a bio-subsidiary of InsKobi, announced on the 13th that it will participate in the BIG (Beyond the Innovation Gap) leading model project led by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

This government project was conducted through the "2021 Public Research Achievement BIG Leading Model Project Implementation Announcement" in February, aimed at supporting excellent public research achievements by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Apimez formed a consortium with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute located in Daejeon, patent law firm SYP, Korea Science and Technology Holdings, and Daejeon Technopark. It has attracted attention by passing the first screening through the project "Technology Commercialization of Anticancer and Diabetes Therapeutics Using Natural Extract-Derived Bio Food and Pharmaceutical Materials," which develops natural product-based health functional foods and new drugs.

Natural product-based medicines and health foods are known to have fewer side effects than conventional chemical-based products. However, the company explained that since the research period is long and commercialization is not easy, the selection for this project is even more meaningful.

Apimez will begin full-scale research based on substances extracted from Banaba and Moringa in collaboration with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute.

Banaba is a plant of the family Lythraceae, a perennial evergreen tree growing in subtropical regions. Its stem is used as material for houses or furniture, its root is used to treat gastrointestinal diseases, and its dried leaves can be consumed as tea.

It has been reported that Banaba leaves contain Corosolic acid, a component known for its blood sugar-improving effects. The research team developed a composite extract applying new materials to Banaba leaf extract. Through mouse preclinical animal experiments using the composite extract, they demonstrated excellent anti-diabetic effects and proved its broad applicability to various diabetes targets.

Moringa has been proven to have anti-diabetic and anti-allergic effects. The research team developed a new extraction method differentiated from conventional Moringa extraction methods. Based on this, they completed the world's first development of an excellent anticancer material applicable to lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, and others.

In mouse preclinical animal tests targeting malignant lung cancer, Moringa extract showed over 70% anticancer effect with just 14 days of simple oral administration. Furthermore, when combined with low-dose radiation, which has low human toxicity, it showed over 97% antitumor effect, proving significantly superior anticancer efficacy compared to conventional anticancer drugs.

Additionally, it exhibits toxicity only in cancer cells, not in normal cells, and can be applied as an oral drug differentiated from existing cytotoxic injectable anticancer drugs, thus showing great promise as a new low-toxicity anticancer treatment.

Through the first phase selection of the BIG leading project, Apimez has completed the establishment of InsGen INC, a subsidiary for natural product health functional food and new drug development, and full-scale research is scheduled to begin by the end of the year. They plan to build a natural product food and pharmaceutical development platform through successful commercialization in the future.

Based on its experience in developing and commercializing Apitoxin, the 6th domestic new drug and the first natural product new drug in Korea based on bee venom in 1999, Apimez is expected to play a central role in this project as well.

A company official said, "Apimez's research achievements, which commercialized Apitoxin, Korea's first natural product new drug, greatly helped in participating in this government project," and added, "Through the selection of this BIG leading government project, we will actively consider investments in the pharmaceutical and health functional food sectors."

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