Huons Wins Three State Drug Development Grants to Advance mRNA Eye Drop, ADC and Peptide Cancer Drug
核心洞察
Huons (搜索) had all three of its biotech consortiums selected for South Korea's 2026 joint drug pipeline development track, taking three of the ten funded projects.
The projects span three modalities: an mRNA-LNP eye drop for diabetic keratopathy (搜索), an ITGB6 (搜索)-targeting ADC and a peptide cancer drug.
Huons (搜索) will contribute CMC, manufacturing, preclinical, clinical and regulatory capabilities to move each candidate toward clinical trials.
Huons (搜索) has secured selection in three of the ten projects funded under South Korea's 2026 joint drug pipeline development track, a state program that pairs biotech ventures with large and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies to advance promising candidates from preclinical development into clinical trials. The company said all three consortiums it formed — with SurgeneX (搜索), PinotBio (搜索) and PulseInMyEars (搜索) — were chosen for the program, which is led by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and administered by the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA).
Huons (搜索) is participating as a joint research and development institution in the three projects, which together cover three distinct therapeutic modalities: an mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) eye drop, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and a peptide cancer drug. The company plans to combine its capabilities in chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC), production, preclinical and clinical development, and regulatory affairs (RA) with the biotech partners' technologies to push each candidate into clinical trials.
mRNA Eye Drop for Diabetic Keratopathy
With SurgeneX (搜索), Huons (搜索) is developing an mRNA-LNP eye drop to treat intractable diabetic keratopathy (搜索). The project relies on SurgeneX's proprietary RX-LNP delivery platform, with the goal of delivering mRNA therapeutics — until now developed mainly as injections — in a non-invasive eye drop form. Under the collaboration, SurgeneX will handle the LNP specialized for corneal delivery and the formulation work, while Huons will verify the candidate's efficacy and safety and set the development strategy.
ITGB6-Targeting ADC
The second consortium, with PinotBio (搜索), aims to bring PBX-004 into clinical trials. PBX-004 is an ITGB6 (搜索)-targeting ADC candidate built on the PINOT-ADC platform. Huons (搜索) will take part in refining the Phase 1 protocol and the regulatory package, filing the investigational new drug (IND) application and responding to regulators.
Subcutaneous Peptide Cancer Drug
With PulseInMyEars (搜索), Huons (搜索) is jointly developing a subcutaneous formulation of Pearl-101 (搜索), a peptide cancer drug aimed at homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) solid tumors that are resistant to PARP inhibitors and platinum-based chemotherapy. Huons will review CMC and regulatory compliance and support formulation optimization and IND filing preparations.
Open Innovation Model
Huons (搜索) intends to develop the collaborations into an open innovation-based "External R&D" model that carries biotech technologies through to the clinical stage. In April, the company took part in a partnering day hosted by the Korea Innovative Medicines Consortium (KIMCo Foundation) and TIPA to discuss cooperation with biotech firms.
"The selection of three state projects for joint drug development shows how the open innovation we have steadily pursued is producing concrete results," Huons (搜索) CEO Song Soo-young said. "We will work with biotech ventures that hold innovative technologies across different modalities to speed up entry into clinical trials."