[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s drug maker Ildong Pharmaceutical will conduct early stage clinical trials of its target cancer therapy candidate on patients with solid tumors later this year, the company said on June 26.

According to the company, it received approval to initiate phase 1 clinical program of IDX-1197, from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety recently.

Targeted therapy is a type of chemotherapy that attacks cancer cells while doing less damage to normal cells.

According to the firm, IDX-1197 belongs to a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors which blocks an enzyme, Poly ADP-ribose polymerase that cancer cells use to repair their DNA after being damaged by chemotherapy.
“The value of PARP inhibitor is gaining attention in the global pharmaceutical market,” said the company official.

Prior to the clinical studies, the company received patents for IDX-1197 in the US and Canada in May.

The company said it will pursue various commercialization strategies such as a license agreement with other global drug makers to sell it in other countries in accordance with clinical research results.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)