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[Press release] Atopic dermatitis may be cured with low molecular weight compounds
- 엘리스 리
- REG_DATE : 2016.07.11
- HIT : 1007
Atopic dermatitis may be cured with low molecular weight compounds
GIST is developing a new drug to cure atopic dermatitis, which is an inflammatory skin diseases.
GIST Professor Yong-Chul Kim of the School of Life Sciences is leading a collaborative effort to develop new drugs for the treatment of atopic dermatitis with Huons, which is a Korean pharmaceutical company (CEO Jae-Gap Jeon), and Professor Hyung-Sik Kim"s research team from Sungkyunkwan University.
This joint research project will focus on the development of synthetic drugs to balance the immune system by minimizing an excessive immune response from the body. With funding of 31 billion won from the government and industry, the project plans to discover new substances as possible drug candidates with non-clinical toxicity studies continuing until 2021.
Atopic dermatitis is a skin disorder that may be caused by genetic factors, and it requires long-term treatment as there is no known cure this disorder. Typically, topical steroids are used for treatment, but this can cause serious side effects as a person can get secondary infections as the skin becomes thinner with enlarged blood vessels.
Although gene therapy, cell therapy, and bio-pharmaceuticals have been used to treat atopic dermatitis, these options tend to be expensive and inconvenient. Because of this, development of the new low molecular weight compounds are desired, which may be more effective with less side effects.
Professor Yong-Chul Kim said, “We have already confirmed the treatment efficacy of natural substance on humans, and with these results we will systematically study them to optimize the development of new drugs that we hope to have approved for global clinical trials.”