HK Innoen-Dong-A ST Joint Research on Targeted Therapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Targeting EGFR L858R Mutation in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

HK Innoen is partnering with Dong-A ST to develop next-generation treatments for non-small cell lung cancer.

On the 6th, HK Innoen signed a joint research agreement with Dong-A ST to develop a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. Jae-Hong Park, President of R&D at Dong-A ST (left), and Geun-Seok Song, Executive Director of R&D at HK Innoen, are posing for a commemorative photo at the signing ceremony.
[Photo by HK Innoen]

On the 6th, HK Innoen announced that it has signed a joint research memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dong-A ST to develop treatments for non-small cell lung cancer.

Through this MOU, HK Innoen plans to provide its self-developed epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, while Dong-A ST will share protein degradation-based technology to derive next-generation EGFR degrader candidate substances targeting the EGFR L858R mutation.

The EGFR degraders developed by the two companies work on the principle that the drug simultaneously binds to the target protein EGFR, including the L858R mutation, and the intracellular protein degradation system, thereby degrading and eliminating the target protein. They degrade the EGFR protein itself that has major drug-resistant EGFR mutations such as the L858R mutation, T790M and C797S double or triple mutations. HK Innoen explains that this approach is expected to minimize side effects caused by normal EGFR inhibition and provide a more effective treatment method.

Song Geun-seok, Executive Vice President of Research and Development (R&D) at HK Innoen, said, "Through joint research with Dong-A ST, we plan to diversify drug types by developing the allosteric EGFR inhibitor currently under development also as an EGFR degrader, thereby expanding the treatment scope. We expect this to be an effective treatment option for patients with resistance to existing EGFR drugs, which have shown limitations in treatment so far."

Park Jae-hong, President of R&D at Dong-A ST, said, "Based on Dong-A ST’s protein degrader technology, we aim to jointly develop EGFR degraders with HK Innoen to target various EGFR mutations and quickly derive candidate substances that can overcome resistance issues of existing EGFR inhibitors."

HK Innoen’s research to derive allosteric EGFR inhibitor candidates was selected for a new drug R&D ecosystem construction support project led by the National New Drug Development Project Group. This inhibitor candidate works by binding to the allosteric site (one of the protein sites) in the EGFR protein structure to inhibit EGFR.

Since 2017, Dong-A ST has been developing PROTAC technology using its own inhibitors, and in December 2021, it introduced anticancer drugs applying PROTAC technology from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology.

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