The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said on the 9th that Sovargen, a faculty-founded startup by Lee Jeong-ho, a professor at the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, developed an innovative ribonucleic acid (RNA) new drug candidate to treat intractable epilepsy and succeeded in a global technology export deal worth a total of 750 billion won.
Professor Lee Jeong-ho's team was the first in the world to identify that the cause of fatal brain diseases such as intractable epilepsy and malignant brain tumors is "acquired mutations arising in brain stem cells (brain somatic mutations)," and published the findings in the international journals Nature and Nature Medicine in 2015 and 2018.
Since then, together with Sovargen CEO Park Cheol-won, a new drug development expert, they discovered an RNA new drug that can directly target MTOR, the causative mutant gene of epilepsy, and even demonstrated commercial viability through a large-scale technology transfer agreement with a global pharmaceutical company.
In particular, this achievement is significant in that Professor Lee Jeong-ho, an "M.D.-Ph.D. physician scientist" who is a physician focusing on basic research, combined translational research and venture startup to achieve it. An idea that started in a basic research lab grew into a world-first new drug (first-in-class) candidate through a startup and then created a virtuous cycle leading back to the global market.
Sovargen senior researcher Park Sang-min (a KAIST Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering graduate) said, "From identifying disease causes to new drug development and global technology export, it was all possible through the power of Korea's science." Sovargen CEO Park Cheol-won emphasized, "Thanks to the active support from key school officials, including President Lee Kwang-hyung, for the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering and faculty-founded corporations, this achievement was possible."
Professor Lee Jeong-ho said, "While domestic medical schools have a patient care–centered culture, KAIST has a research culture that values innovation and industrialization, enabling us to achieve two outcomes at the same time: innovative basic research and new drug technology export," adding, "This achievement will serve as a good example of the direction KAIST medical science research should take going forward."
President Lee Kwang-hyung said, "This achievement is a representative case in which KAIST's research philosophy of 'from basic to industry' has been realized in the field of medical science," adding, "KAIST will continue to drive innovations that lead human health and the future bioindustry through challenging basic research."