Daewoong Pharmaceutical said on the 12th that it signed a licensing and co-development agreement with domestic artificial intelligence (AI) new drug development corporations Innovo Therapeutics for the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) drug candidate "INV-008."
INV-008, which Daewoong Pharmaceutical introduced this time, is a new drug candidate that inhibits 15-PGDH, an enzyme that hinders the recovery of damaged intestinal mucosa, to help regenerate intestinal tissue and heal the mucosa. It is being developed as a treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and the agreement also includes rights to expand development to other diseases in the future.
With this agreement, Daewoong Pharmaceutical secured exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize INV-008.
The deal is worth up to 662.5 billion won. It consists of a non-refundable upfront payment of 6.5 billion won, development milestones (running royalties) of up to 19 billion won, approval milestones of up to 207 billion won, and sales milestones of up to 430 billion won. Royalties based on net sales after commercialization are separate.
Innovo Therapeutics was founded in March 2019 by CEO Park Hee-dong, former head of the new drug research institute at LG Chem. Based on its own AI platform, it is developing treatments in the fields of immune diseases, inflammatory diseases, fibrosis, and cancer.
Its key pipeline includes, in addition to INV-008, the ulcerative colitis drug candidate "INV-101," the osteoarthritis drug candidate "INV-004," and the severe asthma drug candidate "INV-007."