Seoul St. Mary's Hospital selected for Korea-US innovation R&D program 2 years running

Up to 7 billion won over 3 years for rheumatoid arthritis, bowel disease drug development

Prof. Kwak Seung-ki of the Division of Rheumatology at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital. [Seoul St. Mary's Hospital]

The Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's Hospital announced Thursday that it has been selected for the second consecutive year for the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Korea-US Innovation R&D project, and will pursue international joint drug development based on a research-focused hospital platform built through its own investment.

Since receiving research-focused hospital certification, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital has invested its own research funds to build four core research platforms — covering blood and immune diseases, digital clinical research, advanced convergence biotech and precision regenerative medicine — and has operated a research system linking basic research through to clinical trials and commercialization.

Notably, the research projects selected in consecutive years came from different core research platforms. Last year, Joo Ji-hyun, director of the Precision Regenerative Medicine Platform Center, was selected for the Korea-US Innovation R&D project. This year, the research team led by Kwak Seung-ki, director of the Blood and Immune Disease Platform Center, was selected for the same project, making it two consecutive years the hospital has carried out research under the program.

The Korea-US Innovation R&D for Research-Focused Hospitals program supports international joint research between domestic research-focused hospitals and US research institutions, helping outstanding research outcomes enter global markets and secure advanced technologies. The selected project will receive up to 7 billion won ($5.05 million) in research funding over three years through the end of 2028.

Kwak's research team will work to develop a new targeted therapy that simultaneously targets interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-23, two inflammatory signaling molecules involved in rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

Many existing treatments work by broadly suppressing immune function and come mostly in injectable form. Some patients also experience a decline in therapeutic effect with long-term use, the research team said.

An exterior view of Seoul St. Mary's Hospital. [Seoul St. Mary's Hospital]

To address these shortcomings, the research team plans to simultaneously develop three approaches: an oral medication that can be taken daily, a "nanobody" — a small antibody fragment that precisely targets inflammatory signals — and a therapy that combines a nanobody with a drug to act selectively at sites of inflammation.

The research involves hospitals, universities and companies from both South Korea and the United States. Interon Korea will handle drug candidate discovery, while Harvard Medical School will be responsible for nanobody discovery and optimization. Seoul National University's College of Pharmacy will handle the chemical design of candidate compounds, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital will verify the efficacy and safety of drug candidates through patient tissue samples and animal experiments.

Korean and US research institutions will each take responsibility for a different stage of drug development — from candidate discovery and design to efficacy and safety verification. Candidate compounds secured through the research will be pursued for commercialization through technology transfer or joint development.

"Patients with rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease often live with the dual burden of repeated injections and diminishing treatment effects," Kwak said. "Through this international joint research framework, I hope we can develop a way for patients to receive consistent treatment without having to visit a hospital every day, leading to a real improvement in their quality of life."

Kim Myung-shin, vice president of research at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, said the consecutive selections of the hospital's platform projects for major national international joint research programs are "proof that we are establishing ourselves as an innovation ecosystem that produces tangible results." She added that the hospital would continue to advance the research capabilities of its four platforms in conjunction with its leap-support projects and build a virtuous cycle of research and development spanning basic research, translational research, clinical trials and technology commercialization.

woo@heraldcorp.com