Clinical Trial of DWN12088 Slated to Start in July
Daewoong Pharmaceutical disclosed on March 8 that its research and development (R&D) on treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis using the first-in-class Prolyl-tRNASynthetase (PRS) inhibitor DWN12088 has been selected for the government’s new drug development project.
Accordingly, the company will receive R&D funding for phase I clinical trials and non-clinical trials of the first-in-class PRS pulmonary fibrosis treatment DWN12088 from the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF).
Through this project, Daewoong aims to achieve a strong anti-fibrotic effect and safety on pulmonary fibrosis disease to meet the medical needs of patients with pulmonary fibrosis and increase the possibility of exporting its new drug technology.
DWN12088 is an orally administered fibrosis treatment with a mechanism of selectively suppressing the activity of PRS protein and thereby inhibiting excessive production of collagen, which is a cause of pulmonary fibrosis. Preclinical results confirmed the treatment’s excellent efficacy in the animal model of intractable idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
"The DWN12088 PRS inhibitor is a promising new drug candidate showing strong anti-fibrotic efficacy and broad range of safety. We expect to meet the unmet medical needs of patients with pulmonary fibrosis suffering from a lack of safe and effective treatment,” said Park Joon-seok, director of Daewoong Pharmaceutical New Drug Center. "We also plan to launch clinical trials for a variety of fibrotic diseases that do not have the proper treatments in addition to the lung disease, and we will lay the foundation for Daewoong's export of new drug technologies," he added.
Meanwhile, Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to start a clinical trial of DWN12088 in July with the aim of launching a fibrosis treatment in 2025.