Dong-A ST becomes second largest shareholder of 'Ildong' Idience... Secures co-administration rights for 'Venedafalib'

Dong-A ST (Dong-A ST) announced on the 20th that it has signed a strategic equity investment and joint development agreement with Idience, a new drug development specialist company of the Ildong Pharmaceutical Group, regarding the combination therapy with Idience's targeted anticancer drug candidate, Venadafarib.

Lee Jae-jun, CEO of Ildong Pharmaceutical, Lee Won-sik, CEO of Idions, Park Jae-hong, President of R&D at Dong-A ST, and Kim Min-young, CEO of Dong-A ST (from left), are posing for a commemorative photo at the signing ceremony of the strategic equity investment and joint development agreement between Dong-A ST and Idions.
[Photo by Dong-A ST]

Through this contract, Dong-A ST will invest approximately 25 billion KRW to become the second largest shareholder of Idience following Ildong Holdings, and also acquire the rights for combination therapy with Venadafarib. Through this, they plan to strengthen the competitiveness of the anticancer drug pipeline utilizing Venadafarib and secure differentiated new growth engines.

Dong-A ST is building an anticancer drug pipeline through continuous research and development (R&D) investment. The immune-oncology drug DA-4505, an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) antagonist, is preparing for clinical phases 1 and 2a, and DA-4511, a Src homology phosphatase (SHP)-1 inhibitor, presented preclinical results at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in April. AT-211, targeting gastric and pancreatic cancers, secured through the acquisition of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist company Aptis last December, is scheduled to submit clinical phase 1 trial plans in Korea and the United States in the second half of this year.

Idience, established in 2019, possesses multiple anticancer drug new drug pipelines including Venadafarib. Venadafarib is a targeted therapeutic anticancer drug candidate that selectively kills cancer cells by inhibiting poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP), an enzyme involved in DNA damage repair in cells. It is currently being developed targeting various cancer types such as gastric cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and PARP inhibitor-resistant cancers.

Won-Sik Lee, CEO of Idience, said, “It is very meaningful that we have formed a partnership with a leading company like Dong-A ST and have been recognized for Idience’s R&D capabilities and pipeline value through large-scale investment attraction,” adding, “We will do our best to discover innovative anticancer therapies and succeed in new drug development in cooperation with Dong-A ST.”

Kim Min-young, President of Dong-A ST, also said, "Dong-A ST is continuously promoting the strengthening of its anticancer drug pipeline, and through cooperation with Idience, we have signed this contract to increase the possibility of developing differentiated anticancer drugs,”and added, “We will explore various ways to grow together in the global market through a mutually strategic cooperative relationship, including developing innovative anticancer drugs by combining the technologies and substances of Dong-A ST and Idience.”