A-Root "ByroCure, Bio Business Sailing Smoothly... Baeksim Platform Development Underway"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] A-Route's newly launched bio business is progressing smoothly. The development of a vaccine platform capable of responding to various viruses and the Phase 1b clinical trial of a liver metastasis cancer treatment using reovirus in Australia are proceeding without any setbacks.

‘Virocure,’ a virus-specialized company invested in by A-Route, announced on the 6th that the ‘Virus Vaccine Platform Development Project,’ jointly developed with the University of Ottawa in Canada, is gaining increasing attention both domestically and internationally.

This project aims to rapidly produce and distribute vaccines using a vaccine platform based on reovirus (a type of RNA virus). It enables quick vaccine production and distribution through this platform regardless of the type of virus outbreak in the future, including viruses like COVID-19.

Tommy Michael Alain, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Virocure and a professor at the University of Ottawa, introduced the currently developing vaccine platform at the ‘BioFlex-Interphex Korea 2021’ conference last October. He gave a presentation titled ‘Oncolytic Virus as a Vaccine Platform to Overcome Future Pandemics,’ which attracted market interest.

Moreover, the vaccine platform development project has also attracted attention overseas, receiving a grant from the Canadian government’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

A Virocure official stated, “The vaccines produced using the currently developing platform are safe for humans and have no side effects. Utilizing the unique advantages of reovirus, they are suitable for oral administration.” He added, “Additionally, the vaccines are stable enough to be stored and transported under regular freezing conditions.”

He continued, “Due to the resurgence of COVID-19 and the Delta and Omicron variants, the need for rapid vaccine production and distribution is increasing. We will do our best to develop the vaccine platform technology quickly, including obtaining patents for the vaccine platform technology.”

Meanwhile, besides the COVID vaccine platform, Virocure is conducting a Phase 1b clinical trial in Australia for a liver metastasis cancer treatment (RC402-IT). Clinical trial approval was granted by two hospitals in Australia last November, and patient recruitment is currently underway. Virocure aims to administer the first patient early next year through patient selection and plans to complete the Phase 1b trial as soon as possible.

Other pipelines of Virocure, including △ oral virus anticancer drug using reovirus (RC402-PO), △ intravenous solid cancer treatment using modified reovirus (RP116-IV), and △ solid cancer treatment through myxoma virus gene recombination (MC509N), are also progressing smoothly.