SillaJen, Inc. is a South Korea-based

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

company, with offices in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

Yangsan Yangsan () is a city in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, South Korea. It borders Ulsan to the northeast, Gijang-gun and Geumjeong-gu in Busan to the southeast, Gimhae to the southwest, and Miryang to the northwest. City Hall is located in Nambu-dong, ...

and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, South Korea, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Technology

Pexa-Vec JX-594 is an oncolytic virus is designed to target and destroy cancer cells. It is also known as Pexa-Vec, INN pexastimogene devacirepvec) and was constructed in Dr. Edmund Lattime's lab at Thomas Jefferson University, tested in clinical trials on ...

(JX-594) was developed using the SOLVE (Selective Oncolytic Vaccinia Engineering) platform. This platform may be used to optimize virus targeting to specific cancer types, to select transgenes to include into the viral genome, and to optimize viral infection and/or replication selectively through targeted mutations. JX-900 (VVDD): VVDD Platform: Next-gen enhanced

oncolytic immunotherapy An oncolytic virus is a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells. As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by oncolysis, they release new infectious virus particles or virions to help destroy the remaining tumour. Oncolytic viru ...

Clinical trials

Pexa-Vec (JX-594)

As of June 2018, these are the

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

s investigating Pexa-Vec.

Partnerships

SillaJen has partnered with

Transgene A transgene is a gene that has been transferred naturally, or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques, from one organism to another. The introduction of a transgene, in a process known as transgenesis, has the potential to change the ...

, Green Cross, an
Lee's Pharmaceuticals
and clinical collaboration agreements with

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biotechnology company headquartered in Westchester County, New York. The company was founded in 1988. Originally focused on neurotrophic factors and their regenerative capabilities, giving rise to i ...

and the US

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

for JX-594.

History

2003.

Jennerex Jennerex Biotherapeutics, Inc. (now owned by SillaJen) was an American private biopharmaceutical company that developed the oncolytic viruses JX-594 and JX-929 among others. By creating oncolytic viruses that can (1) kill tumor cells directly thr ...

, Inc. (

, USA) was established. 2014. SillaJen acquires

, Inc. 2015. In April 2015. SillaJen began a Phase 3 clinical trial of

in advanced liver cancer. 2015. In October 2015, SillaJen is selected as the major developer for the Government project of “Global State-of-the-art technology development for biomedical products." 2016. In January 2016, SillaJen announces first patient randomized in its global Phase 3 trial for Pexa-Vec in Advanced Liver Cancer. In December 2016. SillaJen is listed on

KOSDAQ KOSDAQ (acronym of Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, Korean: 코스닥) is a trading board of Korea Exchange (KRX) in South Korea established in 1996. Initially set up by Korea Financial Investment Association as an independent stoc ...

market in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. 2017. In May 2017, SillaJen signs a clinical collaborative agreement with

to conduct a combination study with Pexa-Vec and Regeneron's immune checkpoint inhibitor cemiplimab for renal cell carcinoma. In July 2017, SillaJen received approval from the

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

CFDA to commence

phase 3 Phase 3, Phase III or Phase Three may refer to: Media * Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Three, eleven American superhero films from 2016–2019 * '' Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions'', a 1995 album by Earth * ''Phase III'' (album), a 1972 album ...

clinical trial for

in liver

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. In Aug 2017, SillaJen signs a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA or CRDA) with the

to conduct a clinical study in combination with Pexa-Vec and AstraZeneca's checkpoint inhibitors

durvalumab Durvalumab (trade name Imfinzi) is an FDA-approved immunotherapy for cancer, developed by Medimmune/AstraZeneca. It is a human immunoglobulin G1 kappa (IgG1κ) monoclonal antibody that blocks the interaction of programmed cell death ligand 1 ...

and

tremelimumab Tremelimumab, sold under the brand name Imjudo, is a fully human monoclonal antibody against CTLA-4. It is an immune checkpoint blocker. Tremelimumab was approved for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma medical use in the United States in Oct ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Homepage
Biotechnology companies of South Korea