S.Korea's Qurient, US National Cancer Institute to develop anti-cancer drug

South Korea's Qurient Co. announced on Monday that it signed a research and development agreement with the US government agency National Cancer Institute (NCI) regarding the investigational anti-cancer compound "Q901."

Under this agreement, Qurient and NCI will jointly evaluate the efficacy of Q901 in synergy with standard treatment regimens for small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Q901 inhibits CDK7, a key factor in regulating the cell division cycle. It is a first-in-class anti-cancer compound candidate that induces cell cycle regulation, DNA damage repair inhibition and transcriptional control mechanisms. Q901 is currently undergoing Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in the United States and South Korea.

According to preliminary research by NCI, transcriptional regulation through the inhibition of CDK7 has shown significant anti-cancer effects in SCLC. Q901 has also demonstrated high efficacy for SCLC in preclinical experiments conducted by Qurient.

Write to Jeong Min Nam at peux@hankyung.com