Contract Signed with Rescue BioSciences
Expanding Microbiome Therapeutics into Parkinson's Disease Area
[Asia Economy Reporter Myunghwan Lee] Celltrion announced on the 17th that it has signed a joint research and development agreement for a microbiome Parkinson's disease treatment with Rescuere Biosciences, a domestic microbiome new drug development company.
Under this agreement, the two companies will jointly develop an oral microbiome-based live biotherapeutic for Parkinson's disease. Celltrion will provide research funding to Rescuere Biosciences according to the development stage, and once Rescuere Biosciences completes the initial development phase, Celltrion will be responsible for clinical trials and approval.
Rescuere Biosciences is a company conducting pioneering research in the field of microbiome Parkinson's disease treatments both domestically and internationally, and possesses an oral microbiome new drug pipeline for Parkinson's disease (LB-P4).
Celltrion plans to expand the microbiome therapeutic area, which has high unmet medical needs, by initiating Parkinson's disease new drug development and strengthen its pipeline for degenerative neurological disease treatments. Degenerative neurological diseases are representative illnesses causing dementia symptoms such as cognitive and behavioral impairments, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
In March last year, Celltrion began full-scale development of microbiome therapeutics by signing a joint research and development agreement with Gobio Lab for microbiome-based irritable bowel syndrome and atopic dermatitis treatments. Additionally, the donepezil patch product for Alzheimer's dementia treatment obtained domestic approval at the end of 2021 and is supplied through Celltrion Pharm, which handles domestic marketing and distribution.
According to GlobalData, the global market size for Parkinson's disease treatments is expected to grow from $3.5 billion (approximately 4.55 trillion KRW) in 2019 to $11.5 billion (approximately 14.95 trillion KRW) in 2029, with an average annual growth rate of 12.6%.
A Celltrion official stated, "Through this agreement, we have expanded the microbiome area to Parkinson's disease treatments with high unmet medical needs," adding, "We will continue open innovation with technologically capable biotech companies and do our best in efforts to discover new pipelines."
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