Hana Pharm spurs to develop new contrast media with the support of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy for technology development project
On July 1, Hana Pharm announced that the Gd-proton project (HNP-2006), a new MRI contrast media under development, will be supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s bio-core technology development project.
“HNP-2006 is a new gadolinium preparation that incorporates a functional group into a cyclic ligand. It reduces the possibility of including neurogenic systemic fibrosis (NFS), which is a side effect of the existing gadolinium preparation and has tissue specificity for certain organs. It is a promising new MRI T1 contrast media,” said Dong-Jae Choi, the CEO of Hana Pharm.
Hana Pharm is a mature pharmaceutical company that has a unique competitiveness in anesthesiology, including medical drugs. By transferring the superior technology of Professor Yong-Min Chang of Kyungpook National University, we secured exclusive patent rights and presented our first challenge to the development of contrast media.
Globally, the MRI contrast media market is growing at an annual average rate of more than 7% and more than $4.4 billion, but the level of domestic contrast product development is still in its infancy. Hana Pharm is expected to successfully develop new contrast media to advance into the global market as well as the domestic market.
The total duration of the government task will be 36 months (3 years) starting from the 1st of July this year until June 31, 2020. The total project cost is around 4.5 billion won, and Hana Pharm aims to complete phase 1 clinical trial with support for this project and then to apply phase 2 clinical phase IND.
To accomplish this, HNP-2006, which is under development, is finally finalized, and it is scheduled to launch in Korea in the second half of 2023 and partner with global pharmaceutical companies. It is expected to be an opportunity for further advancement.
