Despite a sluggish investment environment in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, venture capital’s interest in research and development of anti-cancer drugs remains strong. Recent substantial investments in biotechs specializing in anti-cancer drug development are reaffirming investor sentiment.
◇ Domestic Clinical Trials for Anti-Cancer Drugs Accounted for 36% Last Year… Global Market Expected to Reach 43 trillion KRW in 2027
According to the “2023 Clinical Trial Industry Survey” recently published by the National Clinical Research Support Foundation, a total of 711 clinical trials were approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety last year.
Among them, anti-cancer drugs, which are the most active area for clinical trials, accounted for 259 trials, representing 36.4% of the total. Among phase 3 clinical trials for anti-cancer drugs, there were 56 trials, including 24 targeted therapies, 13 immune therapies, and 19 others.
In the last five years, the proportion of domestically approved anti-cancer drug trials remained in the 30% range, except for 2019, at 36.4% (247 out of 679 trials in 2018), 29% (207 out of 714 trials in 2019), 38.7% (309 out of 799 trials in 2020), and 38.1% (321 out of 842 trials in 2021).
Cancer cells can occur in any tissue of the human body, and humanity has been making continuous efforts to conquer cancer. However, it remains an unknown territory that has not yet been fully conquered.
Despite various treatment methods emerging, cancer still ranks as the leading cause of death in South Korea. This situation is not unique to South Korea. The recent U.S. Biden administration even announced a large-scale project called “Cancer Moonshot” aimed at conquering cancer.
In line with this trend, the anti-cancer drug market is expected to continue to grow steeply. According to a comprehensive analysis of the anti-cancer market by pharmaceutical market research firm IQVIA, over 100 new anti-cancer drugs are expected to be launched in the next five years. Additionally, the global anti-cancer drug market is projected to see rapid growth, reaching around 377 billion USD (approximately 480 trillion KRW) by 2027, from 215 billion USD (approximately 286 trillion KRW) in 2023, with an average annual increase of 13-16%.
Among the top 10 treatment areas, including autoimmune diseases, diabetes, anticoagulation, and HIV, the anti-cancer field is the largest.
◇ Leading the Way in Large-Scale Investments: Domestic Anti-Cancer Drug Development Biotech
Despite a lack of significant improvement in investment sentiment for the bio industry, venture capital continues to invest in anti-cancer drug development startups. ‘IM BioLogics,’ ‘UPPTHERA’ and more have recently received substantial investments.
Furthermore, INEXOPLAT, Baobab AiBIO, and VS Pharm Tech have been selected through the ‘BiiG WAVE’ investment platform, breaking through a competition ratio of 20:1, confirming their innovative technologies and competitiveness. The ‘BiiG WAVE’ program successfully attracted over 80 billion KRW of investment for promising startups between 2021 and 2022.
INEXOPLAT is focusing on the development of an exosome-based immune cancer candidate ‘IEP-01’ to treat solid tumors.
Traditional immune cancer therapies have the drawback of not penetrating solid tumor cells. The company is developing an immune cancer therapy that increases the activity of immune cells within solid tumors, allowing them to attack cancer cells.
The company is currently preparing for a series A investment, with the goal of obtaining IND approval for clinical trials by 2025.
Source: [BioTimes] (https://www.biotimes.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=11892)