[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical said on April 18 that it presented preclinical data of its three cancer therapy candidates at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research this week in Chicago, US.

“Hanmi is focusing on research and development capabilities to develop new anticancer drugs to address medical unmet needs. We will put utmost efforts for commercialization to give hope to cancer patients,” CEO Kwon Se-chang said in a statement. 

The drug candidates include HM43239, which is being studied as a treatment of acute myeloblastic leukemia; potential hepatocellular carcinoma therapy HM81422; and small cell lung cancer treatment HM97211.

The three preclinical assets are further strengthening Hanmi’s oncology-focused pipeline. Among 24 drug candidates the company is currently working on, 13 are potential cancer treatments, including those that have been licensed out to Genentech, Innovent and Spectrum.

HM43239 is designed to inhibit mutations in the FMS-like tyrosine kinase 2 gene, a marker which appears in approximately one-third of all AML patients. While such therapies have emerged as a target-based alternative to traditional chemotherapy, it has overcome drug resistance found in other meds, the company said, adding it plans to advance the program to in-human trials by June.

HM81422, which is in development as an inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, has exhibited significant antiproliferative activities against the human cancer cell lines and demonstrated antitumor efficacy in a xenograft model.

In preclinical trials of Lysine-specific demethylase-1 inhibitor HM97211, Hanmi said it has identified a biomarker associated with antitumor activity in small cell lung cancer cell lines.

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