National Treasure Investment Firm Redhill Biopharma Announces Successful Research Results for Helicobacter pylori Treatment

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] RedHill Biopharma, a US/Israel biotechnology company in which Kookbo, a KOSPI-listed company, has acquired shares, announced on the 26th that it presented two new data analyses from the Talicia® Helicobacter pylori eradication clinical trial program at this year's DDW (Digestive Diseases Week).

The study on the efficacy and safety of Talicia, a treatment for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), was conducted on diabetic patients infected with H. pylori. The main content evaluated the intragastric antibiotic exposure critical for successful H. pylori eradication by comparing a low-dose rifabutin 50mg every 8 hours with a once-daily rifabutin 150mg placebo.

Additionally, Talicia, the leading brand of FDA-approved H. pylori treatments, aims for empirical first-line eradication of H. pylori infection, which affects approximately 35% of the adult population in the United States, indicating a significant unmet need.

Helicobacter pylori is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization and is the strongest risk factor for peptic ulcers, gastritis, and non-cardia gastric cancer. Talicia, developed by RedHill, is a prescription drug for treating H. pylori in the adult stomach.

Dr. Barry Johns of the Johns Center, a diabetes and endocrinology specialty hospital in Macon, Georgia, stated, “More than 37 million Americans suffer from diabetes, making the treatment of H. pylori infection an important issue. Talicia maintains a high eradication rate and has excellent tolerability regardless of the patient's diabetes status, making it a reasonable choice for treating H. pylori infection.”

Meanwhile, on November 8 last year, Kookbo acquired shares of RedHill Biopharma and was granted the exclusive negotiation rights for distribution rights contracts covering the domestic distribution of RedHill’s orally administered COVID-19 treatments Opaganib and RHB-107 (Upamostat), as well as Talicia, and distribution in major Asian regions. On March 14, a formal license agreement was signed granting exclusive commercialization rights for the moderate to severe oral COVID-19 treatment Opaganib within the Republic of Korea.