LSK Global PS said Monday that it has established a subsidiary called LSK NRDO Co., a company specializing in new drug development.

LSK NRDO CEO Lee Young-jak (left) and Dongguk University Industry Academy Cooperation Foundation Director Kim Dae-young hold up their agreement at Dongguk University in Jangchung-dong, Seoul, Thursday.

NRDO (no research development only) is a business model that focuses only on development such as clinical trials and commercialization by acquiring new drug candidates, and has become a common practice in the U.S. and is becoming an innovative business model in Korea’s bio-industry.

The new subsidiary comes after the company signed a technology transfer agreement for DGG-200338, a solid tumor treatment candidate, with Dongguk University Industry Academy Cooperation Foundation on Thursday.

Under the agreement, the foundation will transfer the patent for DGG-200338 to LSK NRDO. which plans to conduct chemistry manufacturing and control and nonclinical trials, and complete phase 1 clinical trial for solid cancer by 2021. Afterward, the company will expand the drug’s indications to various cancer, including colon cancer, and consider licensing out the drug candidate based on the results.

DGG-200338 is an innovative new drug targeting solid cancer and has the potential of becoming an oral anticancer drug which has a differentiated action mechanism from conventional anticancer drugs.

In vitro efficacy studies demonstrated excellent anticancer effects in solid tumors such as colon, lung, renal, and skin cancer. The company also confirmed through an in vivo efficacy test that the treatment inhibited the tumor volume by about 90 percent.

Also, the treatment has excellent anticancer effects against resistant cell lines of commercial anticancer drugs. The company expects that the treatment will become a new treatment option for treating anticancer drug-resistant patients.

LSK Global PS plans to introduce a new success model of domestic contract research organization (CRO) business through the establishment of LSK NRDO. The company has invested in a risk-sharing method for bio-venture companies and have prepared for full-fledged NRDO business over the past few years.

LSK NRDO can operate faster and more effectively than other pharmaceutical companies and NRDO institutions by utilizing all the know-how and human and physical infrastructure accumulated through 20 years of clinical research experience of LSK Global PS.

“This year marks the first step of LSK Global PS entering the global market,” LSK NRDO CEO Lee Young-jak said. “LSK NRDO is the starting point of such goals, and the company will use this agreement as a cornerstone to support new drug development beyond CRO business and build a new pharmaceutical industry ecosystem.”

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