Research & Development
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Synthetic Lethality is a phenomenon in which the occurrence of a single genetic event is tolerable for cell survival but co-occurrence of two or more events results in cell death. The human DNA is programmed to repair both naturally occurring and externally induced damages whose mechanism is tightly regulated. Understanding context-dependent function of synthetic lethality allows therapeutic targeting in cancer and clinical transition of novel drug combinations as well as biomarkers. Daewoong Therapeutics is currently developing DWRX6007 as a novel SL drug which is planned to enter preclinical studies in 2023.
The number of patients with intractable posterior segment eye diseases is rapidly increasing due to increasing smartphone use, western diet, and aging population. However, current treatment options are largely limited to invasive intravitreal injections with varying response rates, especially for angiogenetic disorders in the posterior eye. Our platform technology for nano-emulsion eyedrops and ocular implants addresses these unmet medical needs and maximizes drug delivery to the targeted posterior tissue. Our leading pipeline product, DWRX2008, is a first-in-class small molecule eyedrop drug for diabetic retinopathy and macular edema and is staged to enter phase 1 clinical trials in 2023. Innovative work is ongoing for ocular implants which enable safe and prolonged release of drugs for more than 6 months upon a single treatment.
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PROTAC is a heterobifunctional compound that promotes the degradation of protein of interest using the body’s innate proteolysis mechanism. Unlike conventional enzyme inhibitors, PROTAC can bind to sites outside the kinase domain and is able to prevent the triggering of bypass pathways. It’s additional ability to recycle itself for subsequent rounds of degradation allows for smaller doses to be administered. PROTAC has emerged as the latest trend in new drug development. Daewoong Therapeutics has recently developed DWRX6002, a highly selective PROTAC for a pathogenic protein that is constitutively active in various intractable skin diseases. In preclinical studies, DWRX6002 exhibited a 1,000-fold potency compared to the current first-line treatment.
