'Near-Death Recovery' Sillajen Accelerates Anti-Cancer Drug Development... Pipeline Status Revealed

Anti-Cancer Virus Platform SJ-600 Series
Swiss Basilea's 'BAL0891' Introduction
Pipeline Diversification... "Clinical Speed"

Kim Jae-kyung, CEO of SillaJen, is giving a greeting speech at the meeting on the 13th. Photo by Lee Gwan-joo

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] ShillaJen, which successfully resumed trading in October this year after 2 years and 5 months, expressed its commitment to enhancing corporate value through new drug research and development (R&D).

On the 13th, ShillaJen held a press conference at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, to announce the current status and future plans of new drug R&D. At the conference, updates were disclosed on the anticancer virus platform 'SJ-600' series currently under development and the new pipeline 'BAL0891' introduced from Swiss company Basilea.

Next-generation anticancer virus 'SJ-600' series completed preclinical trials

First, among the SJ-600 series, 'SJ-607' has completed animal preclinical trials, and the results will be published soon in an international academic journal. Furthermore, related research results will be presented next year at world-renowned conferences such as the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

ShillaJen explained that the SJ-600 series overcomes the limitations of existing anticancer viruses vulnerable to complement attack in the blood during intravenous administration. By expressing the complement regulatory protein CD55 on the viral envelope, the anticancer virus is designed to survive stably in the bloodstream. Notably, SJ-607 showed the same anticancer effect with less than one-fifth the amount compared to control anticancer viruses.

According to ShillaJen, preclinical studies showed that the CD55 protein was selectively expressed on the envelope of the SJ-607 anticancer virus, and the serum stability of the anticancer virus improved by more than 500%. Although antibodies against the virus were formed, it was confirmed that there is resistance to neutralizing antibodies that interfere with the virus infecting and killing cancer cells. This means that efficacy reduction due to neutralizing antibodies is absent, allowing for repeated administration.

New anticancer pipeline 'BAL0891' begins patient enrollment

In addition, ShillaJen announced the start of Phase 1 clinical trials in the U.S. for 'BAL0891,' introduced from Swiss Basilea, and that patient enrollment is underway. Patient recruitment is expected to begin this month at three institutions located in Dallas, New York, and Portland in the U.S. ShillaJen plans to conduct clinical trials targeting hard-to-treat cancers such as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and expand indications to various cancers including hematologic malignancies (AML) in the future.

BAL0891, a mitotic checkpoint inhibitor (MCI), is a dual kinase inhibitor that inhibits two phosphorylation enzymes: threonine tyrosine kinase (TTK) and polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1). In preclinical studies, BAL0891 effectively inhibited various cancer cell lines and showed superior anticancer efficacy via intravenous administration compared to oral administration. Particularly, it demonstrated synergistic anticancer effects when combined with paclitaxel.

ShillaJen emphasized on this day its intention to secure advanced R&D personnel and transform into a research-centered company. To this end, it increased R&D personnel by more than 40%, including three doctors such as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Ma Seung-hyun, who has clinical experience at global pharmaceutical companies like Novartis and Lilly. Kim Jae-kyung, CEO of ShillaJen, said, "We will create a virtuous cycle structure by expanding research personnel and focusing on clinical trials to swiftly promote technology transfer to global big pharma," adding, "We will spare no effort to enhance corporate value by expanding research and development infrastructure and securing talent, utilizing all available capabilities."

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