HK inno.N releases the findings of research on a new drug substance for psoriasis at the 2024 SID
May 27, 2024
HK inno.N releases the findings of research on a new drug substance for psoriasis at the 2024 SID Annual Meeting
Currently, the company has developed a lead compound as an allosteric TYK2 inhibitor for oral use.
The substance is expected to show an improved efficacy with a higher JAK selectivity compared to conventional treatments.
HK inno.N first released the findings of research on its new drug substance for psoriasis at the 2024 Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID) Annual Meeting.
The substance is an allosteric tyrosine kinase2 (TYK2) inhibitor (substance name: IN-121803), and the research results related to this new drug substance have been introduced for the first time at this conference.
HK inno.N announced on May 27th that it unveiled the latest results of research on new drug substance for psoriasis through poster presentation at the 2024 SID Annual Meeting held in Dallas, Texas, USA on May 15th to 19th.
Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic skin disease caused by disorder of the immune system. The primary symptoms of this condition as autoimmune disease include ‘erythema’ which is the abnormal redness of the skin and ‘scales’ which are a white buildup of dead skin cells.
‘IN-121803’ is an allosteric TYK2 inhibitor under development by HK inno.N as a new drug for oral use to treat psoriasis. This novel allosteric inhibitor targets not the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) binding site as protein’s active site, but the allosteric (one of protein sites) binding site of TYK2 enzyme, thus maximizing selectivity for the immune/inflammatory regulatory protein “Janus kinase (JAK)”.
TYK2 is a member of JAK family that acts as link between interleukin-23 (IL-23) and interleukin-17 (IL-17), which are psoriasis-inducing proteins. Specifically, it is a key regulator for IL-23 induced IL-17 production in immune cells.
HK inno.N is currently in the process of completing lead compound discovery. This lead compound has shown an improvement in JAK selectivity compared to the FDA-approved drug “Deucravacitinib (BMS)” and superior blood exposure and efficacy to “Zasocitinib (Takeda)”. For this substance, HK inno.N is aiming to finish the ongoing nonclinical research in the first half of next year and proceed to the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for entry into clinical stage (phase 1).
“IN-121803 is expected to have a better efficacy than conventional oral treatments for psoriasis,” said a person concerned in HK inno.N, adding, “we are planning to steadily release the latest research findings of IN-121803 at global academic conferences to explore new partnership opportunities.”
The markets for psoriasis treatment are expected to show a continuous growth at an estimated $60.5 billion (KRW approximately 82 trillion) in 2031 up from $26.5 billion (KRW approximately 36 trillion) in 2022. Currently, in the treatment markets for moderate to severe psoriasis, antibody injections have dominant position, suggesting that there is still high unmet demand for oral medications.
Among oral medications, only “Apremilast (PDE4 inhibitor, Amgen)” and “Deucravacitinib (TYK2 inhibitor, BMS)” are FDA-approved drugs. With the recent entry of “Zasocitinib (Takeda)” into the clinical phase 3, however, TYK2 inhibitors are receiving a greater attention from the global markets for autoimmune disease therapies.
The 2024 SID Annual Meeting marking its 81st year this year is a large-scale academic conference held annually, led by the Society for Investigative Dermatology, in which approximately 1600 experts in skin/autoimmune diseases as well as global pharmaceutical companies gather from all over the world to share information on the latest advances. (END)
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Title of the poster presentation: IN-121803, a novel highly selective allosteric inhibitor of tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) for the treatment of autoimmune disease.