Hyundai Bioscience will begin a clinical trial with Seoul National University Hospital to identify the cause of drug resistance raised during prostate cancer treatment.
Hyundai Bioscience said on the 16th that it has selected Jeong Chang-uk, a professor in the department of urology at Seoul National University Hospital, as the principal investigator (PI) for the prostate cancer clinical trial of the metabolism-normalizing drug "Penetrium" and will begin clinical procedures. The company said it has completed production and quality verification of the investigational drug to be used in the trial, making it ready for patient administration.
The trial aims to identify the mechanism of so-called "pseudo-resistance," which arises from the surrounding microenvironment rather than the cancer cells' own resistance, among the diminished drug responses observed during prostate cancer treatment. The company said this is the first attempt in the world to verify this at the clinical stage.
Jang Su-hwa, a doctor who has studied pseudo-resistance, has focused on the fact that the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding cancer cells becomes stiff and acts as a physical barrier that hinders drug penetration. Hyundai Bioscience said Penetrium has a mechanism that normalizes this matrix environment to improve drug delivery.
Jeong Chang-uk, who serves as PI for this trial, has conducted research in precision medicine that combines imaging diagnostics and genomic analysis along with prostate cancer treatment. Hyundai Bioscience expects that, with Jeong overseeing the trial, the mechanism of pseudo-resistance onset can be identified more precisely through patient-specific clinical data and analyses.
Overseas researchers will also participate in the trial. Frederick Millard of UC San Diego (UCSD) is scheduled to visit Korea on the 26th of this month to join the research. Millard is said to have decided to participate out of interest in research that analyzes the long-standing issue of drug resistance in cancer treatment with a new approach.
Hyundai Bioscience plans to use this trial to identify the causes of reduced efficacy of existing anticancer drugs or hormone therapies in prostate cancer patients and to consider the potential for new treatment strategies.