Hyundai ADM Bio is experiencing a strong rally. The company’s share price appears to be influenced by the news that the research abstract for Penetrium (a niclosamide-based nanohybrid), a new drug candidate being co-developed with its parent company Hyundai Bioscience, has been officially accepted for presentation at the world’s most prestigious cancer conference, the 'AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics 2025'.
The AACR-NCI-EORTC conference is a globally renowned academic event jointly hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). Thousands of abstracts are submitted each year, but only a select few are accepted, making it a leading stage for innovative anticancer drug research that draws the attention of global pharmaceutical companies and research institutions.
Hyundai ADM Bio introduced Penetrium as a 'first-in-class' structure-based anticancer drug that fundamentally overcomes the reduction in treatment efficacy and metastasis issues that existing anticancer drugs have failed to address. By eliminating cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and normalizing the extracellular matrix (ECM), Penetrium treats both primary and metastatic cancers simultaneously and even prevents metastasis, heralding a new era of painless cancer treatment.
As of 1:56 p.m. on August 28, Hyundai ADM Bio shares are trading at 2,870 won, up 22.24% from the previous trading day.
According to Hyundai ADM Bio, the acceptance of the abstract signifies that the concept of 'pseudo-resistance', a new anticancer treatment paradigm proposed by Korea, has been officially recognized by the world’s leading cancer conference. This is being hailed as a historic achievement signaling a fundamental shift in cancer treatment.
This research overturns the 'genetic resistance' hypothesis, which has been considered the main cause of anticancer treatment failure for the past 80 years, and for the first time in the world, identifies the structural barrier of the tumor microenvironment-specifically, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and the pathological (hardened) extracellular matrix (ECM) created by CAFs-as the essential causes of anticancer failure.
Penetrium selectively removes only pathological CAFs while preserving normal fibroblasts, thereby dismantling the tumor barrier. It enables existing anticancer and immuno-oncology drugs to become effective again, converting 'cold' tumors into 'hot' tumors and opening new possibilities for treating metastatic and refractory cancers.
Pseudo-resistance had previously been recognized only as a new anticancer paradigm proposed by Hyundai ADM Bio and Hyundai Bioscience. With its acceptance by the AACR, it has now been elevated from the claim of a single company to a certified global scientific agenda that international cancer researchers must address.
Choi Jin-ho, Distinguished Professor at Dankook University and outside director of Hyundai ADM Bio, who is the first author of the abstract, emphasized, "This acceptance is historically significant because it means Penetrium has received international recognition not just as a simple drug candidate, but as a new framework that redefines the essence of anticancer failure and shifts the paradigm for future anticancer strategies."
Cho Won-dong, CEO of Hyundai ADM Bio, stated, "The acceptance of the abstract means that a new paradigm capable of overcoming the fundamental limitations of existing cancer treatments has been globally recognized. Hyundai ADM Bio will work with its parent company Hyundai Bioscience to rapidly connect Penetrium to global clinical trials and commercialization, providing practical treatment alternatives for patients with metastatic and refractory cancers, and delivering the results of a paradigm shift in cancer treatment to shareholders and society."
Penetrium is not just a new drug candidate; it is a structure-based therapy that has received international recognition for newly identifying the essence of cancer treatment failure and offering a solution. It is being evaluated as a historic achievement and the starting point for a future global shift in anticancer treatment paradigms.
The efficacy of Penetrium has been demonstrated through mouse experiments, companion animal studies, and patient-derived pancreatic cancer organoid experiments. In a study where triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells were transplanted into mice, administration of an immuno-oncology drug alone reduced primary tumors by 22.04% and metastatic tumors by 69.26%. When the immuno-oncology drug was combined with Penetrium, primary tumors were reduced by 59.07% and metastatic tumors by 96.06%.
In a mouse experiment with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, the group treated with bevacizumab alone showed a metastasis inhibition rate of 33%, while the group treated with both Penetrium and bevacizumab achieved a metastasis inhibition rate of 100%.
In organoid experiments using patient-derived pancreatic cancer tissue, when the standard anticancer drug gemcitabine was administered at high concentrations in the presence of both CAFs and ECM, almost no drug efficacy was observed. However, when Penetrium was administered in combination, only the CAFs were removed without damaging normal fibroblasts, and the cancer cell survival rate converged to 0%.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
