AmKor and Hengdian Group signed Development & Commercialization License for Neu2000, a drug candidate for multiple diseases including stroke and acute myocardial infarction, in China
Byoung Joo Gwag, President and CEO of AmKor (Right) and Xuxinliang, President of Jiayuan (Left), signing the licensing agreement for Development & Commercialization of Neu2000 in China
Neu2000 is a moderate, NR2B-selective N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist and potent antioxidant, which is developed as a dual cytoprotective drug for stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI), AMI and burns by Neurotech Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (Neurotech) in South Korea. These therapeutic mechanisms have been among the most sought after activities in the pharmaceutical development of neuroprotectant and evaluated its efficacy over the past few decades through numerous studies of animal model such as ischemic stroke and SCI.
Neu2000 is an investigational stroke treatment with proven human safety through phase I clinical trial in Quintiles US. In the double-blinded, phase I clinical trial, Neu2000 showed excellent safety profiles up to 6 g per healthy young humans (80 subjects) and up to 4 g per normal elderly humans (15 subjects) without serious adverse events. Neu2000 did not show any Central Nervous System toxicities compared with other NMDA antagonists which have failed due to clinical toxicities. As dosing of only 125 to 1500 mg of Neu2000 per human was enough to exceed the therapeutic plasma concentrations showing maximal efficacy in animal models of stroke, SCI, and AMI, AmKor made a decision to move toward clinical proof-of-concept trial of Neu2000 for the target diseases.
Dr. BJ Gwag, President and CEO of AmKor and Neurotech, said, “We are pleased to establish a partnership with Hengdian Group with sincere trust and belief in the relationship and are going to plan phase II clinical trials of Neu2000 first in South Korea and China.”
AmKor, a Neurotech’s subsidiary, is a clinical-stage company focused on the development of drugs to treat the body’s response to injury. Its principle efforts are currently directed at advancing Neu2000 through phase II clinical trials in stroke, SCI, AMI and burns.
Neurotech is a biopharmaceutical venture company which discovers and develops new drugs for the treatment of neurological and inflammatory diseases.
The R&D of Neu2000 was supported partly by “National Research Laboratory grant”, “G7 grant” and “Functional Proteomics Project of the 21st Century Frontier Research Program” from the Ministry of Science and Technology in Korea. It was also supported by grants from “Brain Research Center” in Ajou University School of Medicine and from “Driving Force Project for the Next Generation” by Gyeonggi Provincial Government in Korea.
Hengdian Group is at the present one of the largest Chinese conglomerates, ranked 3rd in the “Top 10 National Private Enterprises”, with a total yearly turnover exceeding 16.7 billion RMB (over 2 billion USD). The headquarter is based in Hengdian, Zhejiang Province and the group has 3 public companies - electronics, pharmaceutical and chemical industry, film and entertainment - more than 60 sub-companies and about 200 manufacturing factories with over 40,000 employees.
앰코 개요
앰코 (AmKor Pharma, Inc.)는 2004년 미국 워싱턴주 시애틀에 (주)뉴로테크의 자회사로서 설립되었으며, 뉴로테크에서 개발중인 뇌졸중 치료제 Neu2000의 미국 및 해외임상연구을 진행하고 있으며, Neu2000의 해외 임상자금 조달과 기술이전을 추진하고 있다.
웹사이트: http://amkorpharma.com
