Shinshin Pharmaceutical, World's First Sarcopenia Treatment Development Progressing Smoothly

Shinshin Pharmaceutical is accelerating the development of treatments for sarcopenia, a representative aging-related disease. The transdermal drug delivery platform company announced on the 5th that it has successfully completed the first year of research for the national project on sarcopenia treatment development and is now embarking on full-scale research and development. The second year of research will proceed to prototype production. The goal of the national project is to complete the domestic clinical Phase 1 IND (Investigational New Drug application).

Sarcopenia is an aging-related disease characterized by a decrease in muscle mass, strength, and function due to aging. Since being classified as a disease by the World Health Organization in 2016, there has been no commercialized treatment available. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and others, the global market size for sarcopenia treatments is expected to grow to 12 trillion KRW by 2026 due to aging populations.

Since April last year, Shinshin Pharmaceutical has been developing sarcopenia treatments in collaboration with Seoul National University and Seoul Women’s University through the “Drug Delivery Therapy Technology Development National Project” led by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Shinshin Pharmaceutical conducted stability and genotoxicity suitability evaluations on the active pharmaceutical ingredients. Seoul National University was responsible for optimizing and verifying the targeted nano platform and evaluating efficacy at the in-vitro stage, while Seoul Women’s University performed in-vitro efficacy evaluations.

Having completed the basic research, Shinshin Pharmaceutical plans to proceed with full-scale sarcopenia treatment development with its joint research institutions starting this year. Recently, Shinshin Pharmaceutical shared nano platform technology for designing transdermal formulations during meetings with the joint research institutions. By combining Seoul National University’s nano platform technology with its proprietary TDDS (Transdermal Drug Delivery System) technology, the company plans to complete pilot product production within this year.

A Shinshin Pharmaceutical representative said, “In the first year of the national project, we confirmed the commercialization potential of the world’s first sarcopenia treatment,” adding, “With the successful completion of the in-vitro research conducted in the first year, our goal this year is to produce clinical trial prototypes after conducting in-vivo (animal) testing.”

He continued, “While conducting research and development with Seoul National University and Seoul Women’s University, we are also discussing plans to expand formulations and indications,” adding, “Since this national project is being carried out as an open innovation form that shares each other’s technologies, we will also pursue the development of additional formulations for sarcopenia treatments through collaboration with joint research institutions.”

Shinshin Pharmaceutical is developing treatments for aging-related diseases, focusing on the CNS (central nervous system) field. Recently, it has started developing treatments for dementia and Parkinson’s disease, which are representative aging-related diseases. The company explained that it aims to lead the aging-related market based on its 60 years of brand recognition among elderly patients.

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