HLB Life Science R&D "Inhibiting Cell Cycle to Prevent Cancer Drug Resistance"

HLB Life Science's drug research and development subsidiary, HLB Life Science R&D, will consecutively present research results on the anticancer drug candidate ‘HLS-22001’ at leading domestic academic conferences.

HLB Life Science R&D announced on the 12th that it will present the cell experiment results of HLS-22001 in poster format at the ‘Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Society’ held at BEXCO, Busan, until the 13th, and at the academic conference hosted by the Korean Cancer Association at Lotte Hotel Seoul for two days starting from the 15th of next month.

HLS-22001 is a new drug candidate introduced by HLB Life Science R&D early last year, which has a mechanism that induces cancer cell death by inhibiting the cell cycle. Cells normally repeat a four-stage cycle (G1 phase → S phase → G2 phase → M phase) to proceed with cell division. HLS-22001 inhibits the progression from the G2 phase to the M phase, preventing cancer cells from growing.

Cell experiment results confirmed excellent anticancer effects, showing that HLS-22001 inhibits cancer cell proliferation at concentrations more than 10 times lower than cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug widely used as a current treatment for lung cancer. In colorectal cancer, there is a high probability that cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) after first-line chemotherapy. HLS-22001 effectively suppresses cancer cell proliferation even in colorectal cancer cells resistant to multiple anticancer drugs, suggesting its potential as a new treatment option.

Based on these research results, HLB Life Science R&D plans to expand indications to other cancer types. They aim to complete preclinical studies quickly and proceed with clinical trials next year. In addition to HLS-22001, they are accelerating research on anticancer drugs using cannabis-derived cannabinoid components, as well as expanding indications and combination therapy studies for targeted anticancer drugs such as riboceranib (VEGFR-2 inhibitor) and pyrotinib (HER2 inhibitor), aiming to build a strong new drug pipeline across multiple fields.

Kim Ki-hwan, head of the R&D Center, said, "The issue of cancer cells’ resistance to existing anticancer drugs is a challenging unmet need that drug development companies must overcome." He added, "Since HLS-22001 inhibits the cell cycle and effectively blocks this resistance of cancer cells, there is great expectation for its development as an innovative new drug," and emphasized, "We will prove this through clinical trials."

HLB Life Science holds domestic and partial revenue rights for riboceranib in Japan and Europe. They have completed the conditional approval application for riboceranib for malignant rare disease sarcoma in Korea and are currently under review by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Clinical trials for canine mammary cancer are also underway. HLB is proceeding with the U.S. new drug application (NDA) for a first-line treatment for liver cancer. They expect corporate value to increase as they lead the domestic approval process for liver cancer drugs.

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