Daewoong Pharmaceutical Expands Long-Acting Injection Business in Partnership with Inventage Lab
- Signed a partnership on May 22 with Inventage Lab, a drug delivery system platform startup
- Targeting the global market through synergy between Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s successful experience with Luphere Depot and Inventage Lab’s own in-house technology
With open collaboration, Daewoong Pharmaceutical (Daewoong) expands its long-acting injection business.
Daewoong (CEO Sengho Jeon) announced on May 25 that the company signed a partnership on May 22 with Inventage Lab (CEO Juhee Kim) a drug delivery system platform startup, at its headquarters in Samseong-dong, Seoul. With this partnership, both companies collaborate to discover a long-acting injection pipeline, research dosage form, conduct pre-clinical and clinical studies, and build overseas partnerships.
Long-acting injection (LAI) is a novel dosage form that replaces a drug administered orally or by injection daily with an injection once every 1 to 3 months. Its advantage is that it can improve medication adherence, enhance patient convenience, and optimize treatment effects with stable administration.
Daewoong released Luphere Depot Inj, a prostate cancer drug, in the dosage form of LAI and successfully developed it into a KRW 20 billion blockbuster. The company is experienced and capable of the entire process from clinical development, manufacture, marketing authorization, and market release for long-acting injection. Based on its 20 years of LAI production and research, the company has a diverse R&D pipeline for the central nervous system, diabetes and obesity in addition to oncology drugs, and is preparing to advance into the global market by developing its own dual chamber syringe (DCS) and building current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) production facilities.
Inventage Lab has its original IVL-precision particle fabrication method (IVL-PPFM), which suppresses the burst phenomenon where an embedded drug is released rapidly in large quantities. This technology has data with remarkable integrity in release control, which maintains drug blood levels within a certain range while the drug remains active. Inventage Lab is developing various drugs of modified-release dosage form for hair loss, dementia, drug addiction, etc. based on IVL-PPFM, and expanding it as a LAI project for new drugs.
With this partnership, Daewoong is planning to expand its LAI and step up its advances in overseas markets.
Sengho Jeon, CEO of Daewoong, said, “To discover and get ahead with novel LAI items, ensure diversity in platform technology, and take global market opportunities, we decided to sign a strategic partnership with Inventage Lab. Based on both companies’ remarkable technology and know-how, we are expecting that we can further enhance our drug discovery competitiveness and expand our pipeline.”
Juhee Kim, CEO of Inventage Lab, said, “We are pleased to build a strategic partnership with Daewoong, which leads the current market and has robust infrastructure. With our strategic investment and cooperation with Daewoong, we are expecting to enhance a possibility of success for the pipeline and create extensive cooperation synergy in discovering and developing a pipeline to target the global market.”
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[photograph] Daewoong CEO Sengho Jeon(right) and Juhee Kim of Inventage Lab are taking photo after the signing agreement.