Future Focus

iNtRON, a bio-new drug developing venture company, has announced the completion of an efficacy evaluation study of BAL200. It has previously been awarded Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) by the FDA.

BAL200 is a novel bacteriophage-derived endolysin-based biologic for the treatment of ‘Inhalation Anthrax’. It provides complete bactericidal activity, rapidly eradicating infected anthrax strains from the body.

The study evaluated BAL200’s antibacterial activity against various anthrax strains, in particular its lytic activity for how quickly it lyses the target strain. It found that BAL200 had the most potent bactericidal ability than any other Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) antibiotics on the market.

iNtRON has stated its intention to promote an out-licensing process based on the efficacy evaluation results and has already secured safety data. It also plans to conduct required studies to be subject to the Animal Efficacy Rule with a new partner afterwards.

Dr Kang, Sang Hyeon, CTO of iNtRON said, “We believe that the recently secured efficacy results are very important and required data to seek a licensing partner for the collaboration of the further developments. We will prepare a data package that emphasises the competitiveness of BAL200 well so it leads to the successful out-licensing deal… Since the existing drugs act in a way that inhibits the physiological mechanism of bacteria, the effectiveness of the existing drugs is not rapid enough to prevent occurrence of bacterial resistance, and is limited by the relationship between the number of drug molecule and bacteria. On the other hand, BAL200 provides a non-stoichiometric characteristic due to its completely different MOA, which makes BAL200 to be a drug that can provide robust therapeutic effects with only a small amount of dose.”