Huons said on the 17th that it received approval from the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety for an investigational new drug (IND) application for a domestic phase 1 clinical trial of "HUC2-676," a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based obesity treatment candidate.
HUC2-676 is a product developed as a low-molecular synthetic peptide version of the obesity drug "Saxenda (ingredient name liraglutide)," which Denmark's Novo Nordisk developed and launched in Korea. The phase 1 trial will enroll healthy adults and aims to demonstrate equivalence by administering HUC2-676 and Saxenda separately.
Huons has set GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) as a next-generation growth engine for the past two years and has focused on developing obesity treatments.
The company has its own production facilities for lidocaine, a cartridge-type local anesthetic. As a result, it has specialized technologies and equipment for producing cartridge-type injectables used in recent obesity treatments such as Saxenda and Wegovy (semaglutide), giving it a competitive edge in developing GLP-1RA synthetic peptides.
GLP-1RA promotes insulin secretion and suppresses glucagon secretion to lower blood sugar, while also acting on the hypothalamus in the brain to induce satiety.
Huons is also continuing research and development to expand its obesity treatment pipeline beyond HUC2-676. Wegovy was finally selected last Sept. for the "2024 Materials and Parts Technology Development Project (package type)" led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and a government project is underway to develop it as an oral formulation. The government will provide 6.3 billion won in project funding over five years.
Huons plans to gradually strengthen its obesity treatment portfolio by adding a GLP-1RA-based new drug candidate to its existing appetite suppressants "Hutermin" and "Pendi."
Park Kyung-mi, executive vice president and head of research and development at Huons, said, "We aim to obtain product approval through securing pharmaceutical equivalence for HUC2-676 and through nonclinical and phase 1 clinical data," adding, "We will broaden the choices for obesity treatment by developing low-molecular synthetic peptides with equivalence to existing biologics."