Mecox Curemed Subsidiary Collaborates with US Jimmy Biopharma Holdings on Anticancer Drug R&D

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] On the 22nd, Mekox CureMed's subsidiary Mekox Medi announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the 18th with XEME Biopharma Holdings Inc., a company based in Florida, USA, for the purpose of discovering and researching new anticancer drug substances.

Through this MOU, the two companies will engage in mutually complementary research and development on their respective anticancer candidate substances. The intention is to promote the development of the most effective treatment methods for inducing apoptosis in specific types of cancer cells through technology exchange between the two companies, adopting an approach differentiated from existing anticancer therapies.

Mekox Medi is a US local subsidiary established last year by Mekox CureMed, a domestic new drug development specialist company, to facilitate US listing and smooth overseas clinical trials. The largest shareholder of Mekox Medi's parent company, Mekox CureMed, is Medicos, a KOSDAQ-listed company, holding 42.21% of the shares.

XEME Biopharma Holdings, which signed the MOU with Mekox Medi, has a 100% subsidiary, XEME Biopharma Inc., a new drug development specialist company engaged mainly in research and development of blood cancer, solid cancer, and anticancer drugs based on a customized anticancer treatment platform technology called ‘Aggregon’.

The company possesses an anticancer vaccine candidate substance that has received FDA IND approval in the US and is currently conducting Phase 2 clinical trials. XEME Biopharma Holdings, which is currently pursuing an IPO on the NASDAQ market, is also reportedly reviewing mutual investment discussions with Medicos, the largest shareholder of Mekox CureMed, the parent company of Mekox Medi.

A Mekox Medi official stated, “Through this business agreement, our platform technologies such as the drug delivery system Liposome, which we are developing independently, will be fused with XEME Biopharma’s technology, providing an opportunity to pursue new methods of anticancer drug research and development that were previously unattempted due to existing technical limitations. Regarding the anticancer new drug substances held by both companies, issues such as toxicity induction, which require long periods during the research and development process, have already been resolved. Furthermore, since cooperation is expected to be possible in obtaining IND approval for FDA clinical trials in the US for our own pipeline, we plan to demonstrate efficient and speedy collaborative synergy.”