NewG Lab Secures 35 Billion KRW Funding to Complete Future Strategy... "Investment in New Drug Development"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Newgelab announced on the 21st through a public disclosure that the payment for the 35 billion KRW convertible bonds issued last month has been completed.

Since last year, Newgelab has newly pursued a drug development business to secure mid- to long-term growth engines. Starting with the next-generation anticancer agent known as a metabolic anticancer agent, it has steadily expanded its pipeline portfolio to include non-small cell lung cancer treatments and COVID-19 treatments.

The metabolic anticancer agent ‘KAT’ is Newgelab’s representative pipeline currently being developed in the United States by Dr. Ko Younghee. It has a mechanism that blocks the metabolic process of cancer cells, starving and killing only the cancer cells, and is regarded as a ‘game changer’ in anticancer drugs. KAT has demonstrated efficacy in various cancer types such as liver cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, and melanoma, and has multiple treatment cases involving actual patients.

The non-small cell lung cancer treatment ‘Taletrectinib,’ licensed by Newgelab from Anhert in the United States, is a targeted anticancer therapeutic agent for benign solid tumors and is expected to replace Pfizer’s Xalkori. It has already completed Phase 1 clinical trials in the US and Japan and is currently in Phase 2 global clinical trials in Korea, the US, and Japan. Newgelab plans to apply for conditional marketing approval after the completion of Phase 2 and aims to enhance synergy among pipelines through combination therapy with KAT in the future.

Newgelab is also developing a COVID-19 treatment based on Nafamostat. As a project under the Ministry of Science and ICT, it is currently conducting Phase 2 clinical trials on Nafamostat infusion formulations with Gyeongsang National University. Recently, it completed patent registration for oral formulations and sustained-release tablets that can be conveniently taken at home like ‘Tamiflu’ and is independently developing these formulations.

A Newgelab official stated, "Through this funding, the research and development of the three new drug pipelines currently underway at Newgelab are expected to proceed smoothly," adding, "We are closely collaborating with top university hospitals in Korea, such as the team led by Professor Lee Seunghwan at Seoul National University, conducting clinical trials for the oral Nafamostat formulation, and will do our best for successful new drug development."