Amicogen Confirms Respiratory Disease Effects of 'Low Molecular Weight Chito-Oligosaccharides'

Amicogen, a bio-materials and healthcare specialized company (CEO Pyo Jjeo), announced on the 13th that it has confirmed the improvement effects of the healthcare material ‘low molecular weight chito-oligosaccharide’ on respiratory diseases. Amicogen previously verified the inhibitory effects on COVID-19 and Influenza A viruses through patent and paper registrations for the material, and plans to conduct human application tests to obtain individual recognition approval for respiratory improvement raw materials.

The Amicogen research team has continuously conducted studies on antiviral effects and respiratory diseases. Through animal experiments on respiratory diseases caused by house dust mites, it was confirmed that low molecular weight chito-oligosaccharide, applied with Amicogen’s enzyme technology, reduces inflammation levels around the airway and suppresses mucus secretion and airway sclerosis. Excessive airway mucus secretion causes increased sputum, leading to breathing difficulties, and is a major cause of airway sclerosis and increased inflammation levels. In particular, low molecular weight chito-oligosaccharide is expected to have effects on allergic diseases such as asthma and atopy by improving the level of ‘IgE,’ which induces hypersensitive immunity in the blood.

The low molecular weight chito-oligosaccharide used in this experiment is a material containing a high content of chito-oligosaccharide applied with Amicogen’s enzyme technology, and the experiment was conducted tailored to respiratory diseases. Amicogen registered a paper and patent in 2022 on the ‘COVID-19 virus inhibitory effect’ of the material, and last year published a paper on the ‘Influenza A virus inhibitory effect.’

Chito-oligosaccharide is recognized by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as a health functional food material with excellent adsorption and excretion abilities for harmful substances in the body such as fats and heavy metals, and has functions for ▲body fat reduction ▲cholesterol reduction. Based on the results of this experiment, Amicogen plans to additionally conduct experiments to verify respiratory health and heavy metal excretion effects related to fine dust containing harmful substances, as well as human application tests for applying for individual recognition approval of respiratory improvement health functional food raw materials.

Lee Jung-su, head of the Healthcare Research Institute, said, “Amicogen’s low molecular weight chito-oligosaccharide is a material with excellent antiviral and antibacterial effects, especially effective for the prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases,” and added, “We plan to conduct human application tests for the prevention of lung diseases (such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)) that may occur due to aftereffects of coronavirus or fine dust, aiming to develop respiratory improvement healthcare materials with secured safety and efficacy.”