South Korea’s Yungjin Pharm is hopeful to accelerate licensing talks with global respiratory drugmakers and venture firms for its new COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) drug YPL-001 after the release of final data from a phase II study due in July in the U.S.

Park Su-jun, chief executive of Yungjin Pharm, recently told Maeil Business Newspaper that the phase II study was completed in March and if the drug is proven safe, it would be a new treatment option for COPD patients suffering from side effects from conventional therapies.

The investigational natural ingredient drug is in the spotlight as the company’s next growth driver. The COPD market is estimated to be worth up to 300 billion won ($268 million) in Korea alone and 20 trillion won worldwide. Demands for better treatments for the difficult-to-treat condition that requires continuous management are growing as standard inhalation drugs like long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMAs) and long-acting beta 2 agonists (LABAs) are known to cause side effects.

"Yungjin Pharm’s new drug would be the first oral COPD drug,” Park said. “If the clinical data show there are fewer adverse effects, it is expected to hit the global market” as a strong contender against the existing treatments.

The company is also conducting a phase II study of YRA-1909, another investigational natural molecule to treat rheumatoid arthritis, in Korea. This clinical trial is expected to be completed by sometime next year.

Yungjin Pharm is now one of the hottest pharma stocks. In early May, life was brought back to the pharma sector on the news that the company entered into a global licensing agreement with Swedish NeuroVive Pharmaceutical on its compound KL1333 for genetic mitochondrial disorders.

Park also said synergy began to be realized from the company’s combination with KT&G Life Sciences completed in January, which is expected to lead to a 30 percent increase in sales this year and a multi-fold increase in profit with improvement in exports from next year.

Yungjin Pharm’s 2016 performance was a bit disappointing with an operating profit of 5.4 billion won on sales of 193.1 billion won, mainly due to costs incurred for having rigorous compliance programs in place. But the company has a bold goal to enter the top 5 in the Korean drug market until 2022 with a strong profit growth anticipated starting next year.

By Kim Yoon-jin

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]