HLB Pharmaceutical Accelerates Development of Long-Acting Injectable Drug

HLB Pharmaceutical is advancing a formulation patent for a long-acting injectable based on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) for obesity and diabetes treatment.

On the 13th, HLB Pharmaceutical announced that a formulation patent enabling long-acting release of drugs in the 'GLP-1 analog' class, which leads the obesity treatment market, has been registered. Previously, they also filed a formulation patent for another long-acting injectable drug in the same class.

Using their self-developed long-acting injectable production platform (SMEB), they are developing GLP-1 obesity/diabetes treatments as well as anticoagulants and dementia treatments. The patent goes beyond simply producing uniform particles continuously; it enhances the stability of GLP-1 peptide drugs for obesity/diabetes treatment during the manufacturing process, distributing the drug evenly inside the particles. This technology ensures the drug is released continuously and uniformly, providing a technical differentiation.

HLB Pharmaceutical’s SMEB long-acting injectable platform technology has been selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ ‘Small and Medium Business Technology Innovation Development Project,’ which is expected to accelerate technology development efforts.

Jung Doo-yong, senior researcher at HLB Pharmaceutical and project leader, explained, "The technology innovation project aims to additionally develop the existing GLP-1 peptide-based long-acting injectable for obesity/diabetes treatment for use in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis treatment, while establishing world-leading mass production technology for long-acting injectables."

HLB Pharmaceutical is also continuously accumulating technical know-how, having completed the construction of a GMP production facility for clinical trial drugs. The success potential of the new order project to establish mass production technology for long-acting injectables is also expected to be high.

Jae-hyung Park, CEO of HLB Pharmaceutical, stated, "Securing technological competitiveness in special formulations such as long-acting injectables is an essential capability for the future pharmaceutical market," and added, "We will not spare investment to upgrade existing technology with advanced techniques to secure a technological competitive edge in the industry."