CJ Bioscience Confirms 15 Microbiome New Drug Pipelines

Among Global Microbiome New Drug Companies, the Most
Own Development 4 Cases · 11 Cases Including 4D Pharma Acquisition

CJ Bioscience announced on the 25th that it has finalized a total of 15 microbiome drug pipelines. The company explained that this is among the largest number of microbiome drug development pipelines worldwide.

CJ Bioscience CI. [Image provided by CJ Bioscience]

In March, CJ Bioscience acquired new drug candidates from 4D Pharma, a microbiome drug development company based in the UK and Ireland, and began analyzing the pipeline. CJ Bioscience completed the classification of pipelines focusing on drug candidates with high development success potential that can create synergy with its existing pipelines.

Additionally, using European gut microbiome-related data obtained along with the pipeline, the company plans to build a strain library and database to accelerate drug development.

Currently, CJ Bioscience holds a total of 15 pipelines, including 4 developed in-house and 11 acquired from 4D Pharma. The in-house pipelines target solid tumors, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and asthma, while the 4D Pharma acquisitions cover indications such as solid tumors, IBD, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), asthma, and Parkinson's disease. With this pipeline acquisition, CJ Bioscience has achieved its goal of securing 10 pipelines by 2025, announced at its launch in January 2022, more than two years ahead of schedule.

CJ Bioscience's flagship pipeline is 'CJRB-101,' an oral anticancer agent under development. CJRB-101 targets solid tumors such as non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. It possesses intrinsic anticancer efficacy, showing anticancer effects even when administered alone. CJ Bioscience added that superior anticancer effects have been confirmed when combined with the immuno-oncology drug Keytruda (generic name pembrolizumab).

A CJ Bioscience representative stated, "Currently, global big pharma companies are showing interest in several pipelines including CJRB-101," and added, "The number of clinical pipelines is considered an indicator of competitiveness for new drug development companies, so securing this pipeline lays the foundation for sustained growth."

CJ Bioscience has received approval for clinical phase 1 and 2 plans (IND) for CJRB-101 from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Patient recruitment will begin in September this year, with phase 1 expected to be completed by the first half of 2025, followed by phase 2. Under the leadership of Cho Byung-chul, head of the Lung Cancer Center at Yonsei Cancer Hospital, who has led multiple global anticancer drug developments, multinational clinical trials will be conducted in Korea and the United States.