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KIST Partners with Dong-A ST to Develop Nucleic Acid Treatment Delivery Technology (January 22, 2024)
- Date : 2024-04-02
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KIST Partners with Dong-A ST to Develop Nucleic Acid Treatment Delivery Technology
On January 22, 2024, KIST held a Linking Lab signboard hanging ceremony and a technology transfer agreement signing ceremony for the development of a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease derived from milk exosome-based oral nucleic acid delivery technology with Dong-A ST (President: Min-Young Kim) at its headquarters in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul.
Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic condition characterized by an abnormal inflammatory response in the colon, with no precise cause identified, making it a refractory disease without a cure. The representative inflammatory bowel diseases are ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, which are known to cause sustained inflammation and damage to the intestinal tract due to the excessive response by the immune system.
The oral nucleic acid treatment delivery technology developed by KIST’s research team involves encapsulating nucleic acid therapeutic agents that block the expression of the inflammation-inducing cytokines inside of exosomes isolated from milk and selectively delivers the milk exosomes to inflamed lesions in the intestinal tract, allowing for rapid normalization of the intestinal immune environment. The two institutions plan to jointly conduct follow-up research for the commercialization of the milk exosome technology over the next two years.
Dr. Yoo-Soo Yang, the Principal Investigator at KIST, stated, “As the first oral nucleic acid treatment, this technology can significantly enhance patient convenience," and added, "Through this technology transfer and the Linking Lab project, we will be able to promote the rapid commercialization of this product.”
The then-current President of KIST, Dr. Seok-Jin Yoon, commented, “We hope that this milk exosome-based oral nucleic acid treatment developed jointly by KIST and Dong-A ST can improve lives significantly as an innovative drug, both in the domestic and global markets.”
Jae-Hong Park, Chief Executive Officer of Dong-A ST's R&D Division, said, “We became interested in the possibility of developing an inflammatory bowel disease therapeutic agent due to the unique material advantages of milk exosomes, given the high unmet medical demand,” adding, “We plan to develop a drug delivery system platform that utilizes the characteristics of milk exosomes and expand it to treat various diseases.”
Dong-A ST is a global pharmaceutical company with outstanding research personnel and world-class state-of-the-art research facilities that were completed in 2011. In 2019, KIST transferred technology for the development of a “dementia treatment technology based on tau protein aggregation inhibition” to Dong-A ST, and they are jointly developing and conducting pre-clinical trials for a treatment based on a small molecule compound that inhibits tau proteins, a causative agent of dementia.