Genome&Company Immuno-Oncology Drug Selected for National New Drug Development Project

Genom&Company announced on the 7th that its new target immuno-oncology drug ‘GENA-119’ was recently selected as a lead compound project in the ‘New Drug Base Expansion Research Project’ by the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF). Following this selection, Genom&Company will receive research and development funding for a total of 24 months until March 2025. Through this, the company aims to secure lead compounds, complete initial process research, and finish preliminary toxicity tests in monkeys.

Genome&Company CI [Photo by Genome&Company]

GENA-119 is an immune checkpoint inhibitor targeting Contactin (CNTN)-4, a new immuno-oncology target expressed in cancer cells, and Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP), which binds interactively within immune cells. APP functions as a T-cell surface binding receptor for CNTN-4 expressed in cancer cells and suppresses T-cell activation. GENA-119 is described as an immune checkpoint inhibitor therapeutic that neutralizes the immunosuppressive activity of APP expressed in T-cells, thereby enabling T-cells to perform their functions properly.

Currently, Genom&Company is also conducting research on another CNTN-4 targeting immune checkpoint inhibitor, ‘GENA-104’, as a non-clinical stage project under last year’s KDDF ‘New Drug R&D Ecosystem Establishment Research Project’. GENA-104 is planned to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for Phase 1 clinical trials in the second half of this year.

Cha Mi-young, head of the new drug research institute at Genom&Company and principal investigator of the project, said, “We expect the selection of this project to accelerate the research and development (R&D) progress of GENA-119.” She added, “We will devote ourselves to research to provide a new mechanism immuno-oncology drug targeting the CNTN4-APP axis through the development of antibody therapeutics for this new immuno-oncology target.”

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