[비즈한국] Yuhan Corporation000100 has revealed its goal to accelerate the achievement of global new drug outcomes by fully implementing a 'NewCo' establishment strategy. The plan is to partner with well-funded venture capital (VC) firms to expedite global clinical trials for high-value-added pipelines, such as those for obesity and metabolic diseases, with the vision of replicating the 'Leclaza' success story. NewCo refers to an independent entity established by investors for a specific candidate substance or technology. It is evaluated as a model that can maximize the efficiency of clinical development and fund management. Recently, NewCo is gaining attention as a new global trend in new drug development.
On the 21st, Kim Yeol-hong, President of R&D at Yuhan Corporation, detailed the strategy to build a NewCo model for the development of innovative drugs in the fields of obesity and metabolic diseases at an R&D Day event held at Yuhan Corporation's headquarters in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. This decision stems from the judgment that establishing a NewCo could be an alternative to covering the increasing research and development costs, as methods of using multiple drugs in combination for various diseases are gaining attention. Global clinical trials require large-scale funding, as they necessitate the purchase of both the drugs used in combination therapy and comparator drugs. Even Yuhan Corporation, the top-ranked domestic pharmaceutical company that achieved the U.S. launch of the lung cancer drug Leclaza, acknowledges that it is not easy to independently carry out processes beyond Phase 2 clinical trials for new drug candidates globally.
President Kim emphasized, "As the clinical development stage advances, the required research funding reaches a level that is difficult to manage on our own," adding, "If we pursue M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in global markets like the U.S. through NewCo, a 'win-win' structure is possible where VCs can exit with high returns in a short period while Yuhan maximizes the value of its pipeline."
On this day, Yuhan Corporation also shared its TPD (Targeted Protein Degradation) strategy, which it has identified as a new modality (treatment technique). TPD, which produces therapeutic effects by binding to the active sites of disease-causing proteins, is being utilized not only for anticancer drugs but also for the development of treatments for obesity, degenerative brain diseases, and immune diseases.
Yuhan Corporation aims to discover the 'Next Leclaza' in TPD. Cho Hak-ryul, Head of the New Modality Division (Executive Director), stated, "We are internalizing oral-available synthetic TPD technology through collaborations with other companies," and added, "We will strengthen our pipeline and definitely discover the Next Leclaza by developing mRNA (messenger RNA) TPD and next-generation proximity inducer platform technologies that surpass the limitations of existing TPD technology." Director Cho added, "We intend to drug various targets by advancing our technology from TPD to eTPD (extracellular targeted protein degradation) and TPC (targeted protein conjugation)."
In addition, Yuhan Corporation presented a vision to introduce a new drug optimization system by 2027 by advancing its proprietary AI drug development platform, 'Universe'.