[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] JW Holdings announced on the 1st that its subsidiary JW Bioscience has obtained a Japanese patent for the core technology of an early sepsis diagnostic kit using ‘WRS (tryptophan-tRNA synthetase)’, which it is developing as the world’s first.
WRS is a biomarker confirmed in a 2016 paper published in the international journal Nature Microbiology to be secreted into the bloodstream faster than major inflammatory substances such as TNF-alpha and IL-6, which cause cytokine storms.
Existing sepsis diagnostic markers could only detect infections caused by bacteria, but WRS is also activated by viruses and fungi. Accordingly, the company expects WRS to have high diagnostic value not only for bacterial sepsis but also for viral infections such as COVID-19.
JW Bioscience obtained a domestic patent for WRS diagnostic technology in 2017 and received a patent registration decision in the United States last May. Patents have also been filed in Europe and China.
JW Bioscience is currently conducting clinical trials at Sinchon Severance Hospital, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital to develop the WRS diagnostic kit, and plans to apply for product approval in the second half of this year.
A JW Bioscience official said, “We have secured a favorable position by gaining recognition for the competitiveness of WRS technology in major advanced markets,” adding, “We will focus our capabilities to realize the commercialization of the WRS diagnostic kit as soon as possible.”
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