Marking its 100th anniversary this year, Yuhan(000100) is accelerating efforts to discover a second "Leclaza." Leclaza is a new lung cancer drug that became the first domestically developed anticancer medicine to clear the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company is reinvesting funds secured through Leclaza back into research to develop next-generation drugs.
Leclaza won FDA approval in 2024 for use in combination with Rybrevant, an anticancer drug from global pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson. It subsequently received approvals in Europe, Japan, Canada and China. Yuhan, buoyed by these results, is developing follow-on new drugs. As of May this year, the pipeline comprises 29 candidates. By disease area: oncology (14), cardiovascular/kidney/metabolism (8), immunology/inflammation (2), neurology (2) and others (3).
Lesigercept, a candidate allergy treatment, is in a multinational phase 2 trial. Lesigercept inhibits immunoglobulin E (IgE), which triggers allergic reactions. Allergies have at times not been controlled even with conventional antihistamines. The company expects Lesigercept could replace them.
Yuhan's Gaucher disease treatment candidate YH35995 was designated an orphan drug in the United States and Europe in the first half of this year. The candidate is an oral therapy designed to cross the blood–brain barrier. It is expected to help Gaucher patients with accompanying neurological symptoms. Orphan drug designation is a system that facilitates the development of treatments for rare diseases, offering benefits such as waiver of application fees and a period of market exclusivity. Yuhan is also conducting trials on other candidates, including the immuno-oncology agent Nesprotamig.
Yuhan has invested a cumulative 1.7 trillion won in research and development (R&D) expense over the past 10 years. Last year's research and development expense was 244.1 billion won, accounting for 11% of total sales. As of last year, 459 people at the central research institute and other units are engaged in R&D. Of these, 332 hold master's or doctoral degrees, representing about 72% of total staff.
Yuhan is also running an open innovation program. It is pioneering next-generation therapeutic areas in collaboration with domestic and overseas startups, research institutes and universities. From 2022 through last year, it supported 9.2 billion won in research funding for 76 open innovation projects, including oncology.
Yuhan plans to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation platform technologies this year. A Yuhan official said, "We will secure technologies such as targeted protein degradation, RNA (ribonucleic acid) therapeutics and antibody technologies."