HK Innoen Partners with Ilias Biologics to Advance Exosome New Drug Development

Ham Tae-jin, Co-CEO of Ilias Biologics, and Won Seong-yong, Director of HK Innoen Bio Research Institute (Executive Director) (from left), are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement.

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] HK inno.N is embarking on open innovation for new drug development utilizing an exosome platform.

HK inno.N announced on the 27th that it signed a business agreement with ILIAS Biologics, which possesses core technology for exosome-based drug delivery, to jointly research bio-new drug candidate substances. Starting with this agreement, the two companies plan to collaborate on discovering new drug candidates using exosomes, which are gaining attention as next-generation drug delivery systems (DDS).

Exosomes are nano-sized particles produced within cells. When drugs are loaded into exosomes, it is expected that side effects can be reduced while efficiently delivering the drugs to the desired targets, leading to active research in this field recently. According to the U.S. market research firm Allied Market Research, the global exosome market size is projected to grow to over 3 trillion KRW by 2030.

ILIAS Biologics is evaluated to possess differentiated exosome platform technology that can freely load polymer drugs inside exosomes and stably deliver them into target cells. Notably, the company holds related technology patents in five countries including the U.S., Japan, and China, and recently received approval for a Phase 1 clinical trial of an exosome-based anti-inflammatory new drug candidate in Australia.

Won Sung-yong, Director of the Bio Research Institute at HK inno.N (Executive Director), said, “Through this joint research, we expect a powerful synergy between HK inno.N’s excellent new drug development capabilities and ILIAS Biologics’ next-generation exosome platform technology.” Ham Tae-jin, Co-CEO of ILIAS Biologics, also stated, “Exosomes are a DDS with limitless expansion potential, and our company possesses platform technology that maximizes this potential. We believe that our technological competitiveness combined with HK inno.N’s abundant new drug development know-how will lead to tangible results.”