News & Events
News & Events
Institut Pasteur Korea & Samil Pharm, Collaborative Drug Discovery Project Targeting Liver Diseases
2017-06-05
Pangyo, Gyeonggi, 5 June, 2017 | On 2 June, 2017, Samil Pharm (President: SeungBum Huh) and Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK, CEO: Dr. Wang-Shick Ryu), signed a MOU for collaboration to undertake a research project on liver diseases. Liver diseases represent a significant and challenging public health problem worldwide, affecting developing and developed nations.
While there are over 100 different types of liver diseases including, hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, fatty liver, liver abscess, etc., many share similar symptoms and follow the same course of decline from chronic state to hepatic fibrosis and liver cirrhosis to liver cancer. This joint research project will focus on hepatic fibrosis. Using IPK’s phenomic technologies, potential early drug candidates that are discovered will be screened and once validated, efficacy and safety will be secured. For the next phase, Samil Pharm will apply its late-stage drug development expertise and capabilities to promising candidates.
.jpg)
Dr. Haengran Seo, Cancer Biology Research Laboratory at IPK says, "IPK‘s proprietary Phenomic screening shows cellular reactions in living cells. By seeing the results of potential drug candidates in real time, we can significantly shorten the early drug discovery process by quickly identifying and optimizing promising candidates. This leads to better quality candidates for further late stage development. Ultimately, we are saving time and money in the race to find viable treatments and addressing an urgent unmet public health need.”
Dr. Joeng-Min Lee, R&D Center Head of Samil Pharm says, “We are excited by the prospect of combining Samil’s 70 years of expertise in drug development with IPK’s Phenomic technologies. Our collective knowledge and capabilities give us the confidence to discover an innovative drug for liver diseases as well as potential treatments for other disease indications.”
# # # # # #
About Institut Pasteur Korea
Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) is an international research institute focused on addressing global health issues with a combination of cutting edge approaches in order to understand disease mechanisms and develop new treatments. By promoting multi-disciplinary projects, IPK is at the forefront of drug discovery and an economic growth engine that contributes to Korea's scientific intellectual and technical resources. IPK has four core missions of public interest; 1) Research, combining front line biology, IT, and chemistry, with innovative cell-based drug discovery platforms that identify novel molecular targets for potential new therapies to treat diseases, 2) Education, offering a wide range of programming to nurture the development of the next generation of scientists and health professionals, 3) Public Health, working in collaboration with national and international health authorities, and 4) Translation of biomedical discoveries to improve health via technology transfer and industrial partnerships.
IPK is a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network (Network). As a hub institution, IPK plays a key role in the Network, serving as a bridge between Korea and global bio-pharma science, expanding Korea's R&D base collaborative research projects with global alliances
The institute was established in April 2004 in collaboration with Institut Pasteur Paris and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), with support from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP). IPK also has a great supporter in the Gyeonggi Provincial government (2005 – 2015 : Block funding | 2016 – Present : drug discovery co-resarch fund for pharm industries).
While there are over 100 different types of liver diseases including, hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, fatty liver, liver abscess, etc., many share similar symptoms and follow the same course of decline from chronic state to hepatic fibrosis and liver cirrhosis to liver cancer. This joint research project will focus on hepatic fibrosis. Using IPK’s phenomic technologies, potential early drug candidates that are discovered will be screened and once validated, efficacy and safety will be secured. For the next phase, Samil Pharm will apply its late-stage drug development expertise and capabilities to promising candidates.
Dr. Haengran Seo, Cancer Biology Research Laboratory at IPK says, "IPK‘s proprietary Phenomic screening shows cellular reactions in living cells. By seeing the results of potential drug candidates in real time, we can significantly shorten the early drug discovery process by quickly identifying and optimizing promising candidates. This leads to better quality candidates for further late stage development. Ultimately, we are saving time and money in the race to find viable treatments and addressing an urgent unmet public health need.”
Dr. Joeng-Min Lee, R&D Center Head of Samil Pharm says, “We are excited by the prospect of combining Samil’s 70 years of expertise in drug development with IPK’s Phenomic technologies. Our collective knowledge and capabilities give us the confidence to discover an innovative drug for liver diseases as well as potential treatments for other disease indications.”
# # # # # #
About Institut Pasteur Korea
Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) is an international research institute focused on addressing global health issues with a combination of cutting edge approaches in order to understand disease mechanisms and develop new treatments. By promoting multi-disciplinary projects, IPK is at the forefront of drug discovery and an economic growth engine that contributes to Korea's scientific intellectual and technical resources. IPK has four core missions of public interest; 1) Research, combining front line biology, IT, and chemistry, with innovative cell-based drug discovery platforms that identify novel molecular targets for potential new therapies to treat diseases, 2) Education, offering a wide range of programming to nurture the development of the next generation of scientists and health professionals, 3) Public Health, working in collaboration with national and international health authorities, and 4) Translation of biomedical discoveries to improve health via technology transfer and industrial partnerships.
IPK is a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network (Network). As a hub institution, IPK plays a key role in the Network, serving as a bridge between Korea and global bio-pharma science, expanding Korea's R&D base collaborative research projects with global alliances
The institute was established in April 2004 in collaboration with Institut Pasteur Paris and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), with support from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP). IPK also has a great supporter in the Gyeonggi Provincial government (2005 – 2015 : Block funding | 2016 – Present : drug discovery co-resarch fund for pharm industries).