HLB Group Chairman Jin Yang-gon, right, poses with Verismo Asia CEO Byung-girl Lee, second from left, and Verismo Therapeutics CEO Bryan Kim, second from right, Feb. 14. Courtesy of HLB

By Baek Byung-yeul

Verismo Therapeutics, a new drug development company based in the U.S., established its Asia branch in Korea as part of its plan to facilitate clinical trials of its anti-cancer drug platform in the Asia region, the Korean biotech company HLB said Tuesday.

HLB Group is a major shareholder of Verismo Therapeutics, as HLB Pharmaceutical and HLB invested $10 million and $5 million, respectively, in 2021 to acquire a 30 percent stake in the U.S.-based company.

Verismo is a biotech company established by a University of Pennsylvania research team. The team led the development of Novartis' Kymriah, the world's first chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) treatment for hematological cancers approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Verismo has its own SynKIR platform that can express a multi-chain receptor similar to the receptor structure mainly expressed in natural killer (NK) cells, which kills cancerous and virus-infected cells in the body. Among Verismo's many pipelines in development, SynKIR-110, the first pipeline for indications for pancreatic cancer, mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, is currently being prepared for an investigational new drug (IND) for phase 1 clinical trials in the U.S.

Its Asia branch will conduct development and clinical trials of the pipelines for Korea, Japan, China and others, by licensing SynKIR from Verismo. In addition, the company plans to expand its business areas by developing various other CAR T-cell therapies that can be specialized for the region's needs, by forming joint ventures with strategic biopharmaceutical partners in each country.

The Asia branch is on its way to establishing a partnership with a major medical center in Korea where it will not only conduct its first human clinical trials but also establish a manufacturing facility for T-cell products.

"Verismo Asia is working to be a leading CAR T-cell company in Asia by equipping various CAR T oncology pipelines, starting with the pancreatic cancer clinical trial of SynKIR-110 in Korea," Byung-girl Lee, CEO of Verismo Asia, said in a statement. "We are working to address key issues such as building a manufacturing facility and securing clinical hospitals."