Medipron Leads Development of Dementia Treatment 'NLRP3 Inhibitor' Attracting Global Pharmaceutical Companies' Attention

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Mediphron, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in new drug development, announced on the 26th that it is developing a dementia treatment drug with an NLRP3 inhibitor (brain inflammation) mechanism, which is attracting attention from global pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis and Roche.

Until now, dementia drug development targets have focused on amyloid-beta and tau proteins, but recently attention has shifted to inflammatory responses in the brain. The target has expanded to inflammation, aiming to treat Alzheimer's dementia by regulating the inflammasome complex.

NLRP3 inhibitors are being developed by many global pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), and Novartis as treatments for various indications such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. As this is currently one of the most prominent fields, acquisitions of related companies by global pharmaceutical firms are also ongoing.

A company representative stated, “Mediphron succeeded in discovering a lead compound that inhibits tau protein hyperphosphorylation by suppressing OGA activity through a three-year joint research project with Chonnam National University, thereby preventing tau protein degeneration and aggregation. Based on this achievement, we have been conducting joint research and development with Chonnam National University to accelerate the development of an Alzheimer's disease treatment targeting NLRP3 inhibitors currently underway, leading the development of dementia treatments.”

They added, “Since the NLRP3 inflammasome is involved in various diseases ranging from diabetes to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, we plan to develop it as a platform technology that can be expanded to various indications through additional research.”