Ajou's Medical Center transfers anticancer medicine development technology to Dongwha Pharmaceutical

2015-12-21

On December 17th, Ajou University Medical Center signed the "Agreement on the Transfer of Anticancer Medicine Development Technology Using RIP3 Biomarkers and Joint Research and Development" with Dongwha Pharmaceutical (Chairman Doh Joon Yoon) in the International Conference Room in the annexed building of the Center.

Under the agreement, the Center transfers the patented technology for promoting the display of RIP3, which was developed by the University's team under Professor You Sun Kim (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology), to Dongwha Pharmaceutical for 1.03 billion won, and the Center will work together with Dongwha Pharmaceutical for research and development of anticancer medicines.

There had been limitations in using RIP3, an essential protein that induces the death of cells, to kill cancer cells, because its display is considerably reduced in cancer cells. Professor Kim’s team resolved the issue by successfully recovering RIP3 that has decreased due to cancer by injecting a demethylating agent into cancer cells. The team then confirmed in a rat experiment that the size of tumors is reduced by half when it used anticancer medicines after injecting the demethylating agent into rats. The findings were published on May 8th in the online edition of The Cell Research, a sister journal of The Nature, and were introduced as an excellent accomplishment for the month by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning.

President Hee Sug Ryu of the University Medical Center said, "Beginning this year, Ajou's Medical Center is actively commercializing medical technologies that it already has, or discovering other potential technologies," adding, "I hope that this technological transfer will lead to the successful development of anticancer medicines and contribute to the advancement of the medical industry."

In April, the University Medical Center and Dongwha Pharmaceutical signed a Memorandum of Understanding on research and development with the help of the Technology Commercialization Center under the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. After that, the technology for promoting RIP3 display developed by Professor Kim was selected in November as a key project for the bio and medical equipment industry by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, and the two organizations are set to receive about 5 billion won over the next three years in commercializing the related technology.