NEWS
Liver Cancer Cell Death and Proliferation Suppression Confirmed: Liver Herbal Therapeutic Medicine Receives Green Light for Development
2020. 06. 24
On June 20th, H&O Biosis revealed that an oriental medicinal compound for
liver therapeutic treatment confirmed to have meaningful results that raises
the possibility of its development.
- Dong-A ILBO -
H&O Biosis (CEO Hyun Ki-Woong and Park Jong-Min) stated in their research findings on June 20th that, “from the field of nonexistent liver therapeutics, an oriental medicinal compound for a therapeutic drug confirmed to have meaningful results that raised the possibility of its development”.
This In-Vitro experiment confirmed that the candidate substance under development had two verified effects: it terminated liver cancer cells and suppressed its proliferating traits on 4 different liver cancer cells. Even among 2 of the resistant liver cancer cell strains of which there is no known treatment, by inhibiting the PLK1 protein expression related to cell proliferation, its proliferation suppressing effect was discovered. In-Vitro was in the early stages of research, and if the effect is confirmed at this stage, clinical trials will be conducted through animal experiments.
According to a study in 2017, the number of casualties by liver cancer was second to lung cancer. Early detection was difficult and drug resistance was high; if relapse occurred, the illness would have one of the highest mortality rates within 5 years. Currently, liver cancer relies on physical treatments such as liver transplantation. Because there are few treatments available, many corporations have stepped up to develop chemotherapy drugs, but liver cancer drugs have not reached statistical credibility compared to most drugs that increase a patient’s overall or progression-free lifespan.
The global pharmaceutical company Bayer’s Sorafenib (product name Nexavar) used large-scale clinical trials to prolong the overall life span of liver cancer patients by 44% and progression-free life span by 72%, but toxin-based skin reactions from hands and feet, vomiting, diarrhea, and hypertension were the side effects from the synthesized/processed drugs, so its administered dosage was limited. Particularly in Asia, only 10% of the results were seen. In the case of Sorafenib’s experimental failure, the 2nd treatment from two combined BMS pharmaceuticals Nivolumab (trade name Opdivo) and Ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy) increased the overall survival time, but also failed to obtain statistical credibility. Lately, clinical cases seeking approval for synthesizing/processing immunizing chemotherapy drugs are on the rise, but the effectiveness of synthetic/processed liver chemotherapy drugs fell below expectations.
The leader developing the new herbal therapeutic drugs, Park Jong-min said, “In contrast to other synthesized/processed chemotherapy drugs, the oriental herbal compound’s effect was confirmed simultaneously in several cell strains which appear differently in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, securing the feasibility of a follow-up development.
Using natural herbal therapeutic medicines with low toxicity and side effects to treat cancer and help boost immune systems, and to confirm the possibility of its universal treatment, H&O Biosis will proceed with our non-clinical studies. However, this medicine is in a very early stage of development; considering animal testing and clinical trials, there is still a long way to go.
H&O Biosis will henceforth confirm the results through animal experiments, then plan to proceed with the goal of receiving the approval for phase 2 of the clinical trial with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. For this process, to confirm the efficacy of the immunizing chemotherapy agent, conducting immunity-related experiments simultaneously was planned.
Dong-A ILBO / JUNE 24, 2020