C&C New Drug Research Institute "Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Selected for National New Drug Development Project"

JW Jungwooje Yak Subsidiary

JW Pharmaceutical announced on the 25th that its subsidiary, C&C New Drug Research Institute, has been selected for the National New Drug Development Project for its research on a STAT5/STAT3 dual-target acute myeloid leukemia treatment.

JW Choongwae Pharmaceutical Gwacheon Office Building Exterior.
[Photo by JW Choongwae Pharmaceutical]

The National New Drug Development Project is a government-wide national research and development (R&D) initiative launched to strengthen the global competitiveness of the domestic pharmaceutical and bio industries. Starting from 2021 and lasting for 10 years, it aims to support the entire drug development cycle to enhance the domestic new drug R&D ecosystem, produce global practical outcomes, and generate public health benefits. C&C New Drug Research Institute was selected for the "2023 2nd National New Drug Development Project for Building a New Drug R&D Ecosystem."

C&C New Drug Research Institute aims to optimize lead compounds that selectively and dually inhibit STAT5 and STAT3 through research funding support from the National New Drug Development Project Group over the next two years, with the goal of deriving an oral innovative anticancer drug (First-in-Class) candidate.

STAT proteins (STAT1 to STAT6), acting downstream in the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, promote the production of various genes within human cells. Overexpression of STAT causes various cancers and autoimmune diseases. In particular, overexpression of STAT5 and STAT3 is associated with resistance (lack of drug efficacy) to existing acute myeloid leukemia treatments and worsening disease symptoms. The institute explained that STAT5 significantly influences the formation of blood cells and the development of hematologic cancers.

The lead compound selected for this project was discovered by C&C New Drug Research Institute through its proprietary data science platform "Clover," which integrates AI (artificial intelligence) and deep learning (machine learning) technologies with chemical and bioinformatics big data. This compound demonstrated efficacy in inhibiting the proliferation of hematologic cancer cells through direct dual inhibition of STAT5/3 with high selectivity in cell experiments. Notably, it showed antitumor effects in models resistant to FLT3 inhibitors.

C&C New Drug Research Institute plans to conduct structural optimization studies of the STAT5/3 dual-target anticancer lead compound and derive a non-clinical drug candidate by the second half of 2024.

A JW Pharmaceutical official stated, "Acute myeloid leukemia is a disease with a very high medical demand for innovative drugs with new mechanisms of action due to resistance and non-responsiveness to existing targeted therapies. We will develop the STAT5/3 dual-target lead compound from C&C New Drug Research Institute, selected for this national project, into an anticancer drug that can overcome the limitations of existing treatments."

Meanwhile, C&C New Drug Research Institute is Korea's first Korea-Japan joint bio-venture established in 1992 by JW Pharmaceutical and Chugai Pharmaceutical under the Roche Group. It became a 100% subsidiary of JW Pharmaceutical in 2020.

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