"Exported Technology, Smooth Development" Yuhan Yanghang Receives $10 Million from Boehringer

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Yuhan Corporation announced on the 10th that it received 10 million dollars (approximately 12.3 billion KRW) from Boehringer Ingelheim, the contract partner, after the non-clinical toxicity test of the non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) treatment drug it licensed out last year was completed.

The two companies signed a technology export contract worth 1.05 trillion KRW in July last year. According to the joint development and license agreement made at that time, Yuhan Corporation was to receive 10 million dollars out of the 40 million dollars non-refundable contract payment after the completion of the non-clinical toxicity test. With this announcement, the preliminary research for the NASH treatment drug 'YH25724' being developed by the two companies has been successfully completed, and clinical trials are expected to begin within this year.

According to the company, NASH begins with fat accumulation in the liver. It progresses to inflammation and ultimately causes liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in many patients. It is reported that obese and diabetic patients have a higher probability of developing the disease. Since there is no approved treatment yet, there is high medical demand, and many global pharmaceutical companies are conducting research.

Yuhan Corporation's YH25724 simultaneously acts on two drug targets for NASH, the GLP1 receptor and the FGF21 receptor, and has shown excellent preclinical results at domestic and international conferences. The company also announced on the 8th that it will receive 35 million dollars in milestone payments related to the targeted anticancer drug technology exported to Janssen Biotech.