On August 12th, REYON Pharmaceutical (representative directors Sunok Jeong and Yonghwan Yoo) entered into an agreement(MOU) with Neo Gene Pharm (CEO Hyosoo Kim) for joint collaboration and commercialization of developing Anti-F1 gene therapy which prevents and treats liver fibrosis 

(Yonghwan Yoo, representative director of REYON Pharmaceutical (left), Hyosoo Kim, CEO of Neo Gene Pharm)

 Through MOU, both companies will be able to manufacture drugs for pre-clinical and clinical trial of Anti-F1 gene therapy and file IND which permits the drug testing in clinical trials. If the plan goes accordingly, submitting a file for clinical trial testing will be possible by the last quarter of year 2021. 

Along with manufacture of drugs and IND filing, joint research will be expanded to liver fibrosis, kidney fibrosis, and other fibrosis as business partners continually. 

Professor Hyosoo Kim from Seoul National University founded Neo Gene Pharm in 2019 for specializing in gene therapy drug development, and its cardiovascular research team is aimed to commercialize various patented gene therapy drug. One of the greatest achievements from Neo Gene Pharm is industrialization of bio-therapy development ‘UNEET’.

Based on Professor Hyosoo Kim from Seoul Hospital and Professor Eunjoo Lee group’s discovery of hepatocirrhosis (In damaged liver, genetic factor of TIF1γ expression decreases while liver cells continually die out and liver fibrosis deteriorates), Neo Gene Pharm research team is developing a new drug which targets DNA that lowers the expression of TIF1γ in liver; thus, preventing and curing Anti-F1 gene therapy.

Patents regarding the drug is submitted and accepted in both Korea and United States of America, and the drug shows promising data in pre-clinical trial in animal testing along with optimization of technical process. 

Liver fibrosis is known to damage liver by turning normal liver cells into hard “fiber-like” cells; thus, liver cannot function properly. As of now, there is no known cure for liver fibrosis. 

According to Beutsche Bank, ALPCO, business market for liver fibrosis is expected to grow at 74% every year from 360 billion won in 2019 to 17 trillion in 2026. Researching a drug that cures liver fibrosis is in process globally; yet, there is no cure in the current market.  

In the near future, REYON Pharmaceutical and Neo Gene Pharm are expected to collaborate on preparing mass production of Anti-F1 gene therapy drug. Simultaneously, both companies will prepare first clinical trial in 2021 after re-verifying animal testing data.

Representative director of REYON Pharmaceutical, Yonghwan Yoo said, “For the sake of patients who suffer liver fibrosis in their lives, our companies will do its best to continue develop Anti-F1 gene therapy, and hope to commercialize the drug in Chungju factory”. Start from the MOU agreement, REYON will continue to accompany with Neo Gene Pharm which has strong innovative knowledge on gene therapy and grow together for future business.

 The CEO of Neo Gene Pharm(Hyosoo Kim) also said, “ The Anti-F1 gene therapy only targets liver fibrosis in deteriorating liver and selectively delivers drug in problematic liver cells; therefore, the drug has huge advantage in safety and stability. For this reason, our drug is far more advanced, compared to drugs that are in development. REYON Pharmaceutical’s know-how and the fundamental knowledge of clinical trial process in gene therapy will create synergy with Neo Gene Pharm for commercializing and developing safe and effective gene therapy.

The research mentioned in this article was published in J. Experimental Medicine (IF11.74) and was acknowledged for the first liver fibrosis gene therapy.