Dong-A ST, UMass to jointly research for gene therapy

South Korea's Dong-A ST announced on Friday it has signed a joint research agreement with the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Chan Medical School in the United States for Adenovirus-associated virus(AAV)-mediated gene therapy.

Both sides plan to undertake joint research targeting chronic inflammatory diseases among immunological disorders.

Dong-A ST and UMass will examine the efficacy of gene therapies for chronic inflammatory diseases loaded onto AAV by the medical school. Subsequently, the school will evaluate the efficacy of the selected AAV candidates in mouse models, while Dong-A ST will do the same in animal models.

Dong-A ST stated that this joint research involves professors from UMass Medical School, including Prof. Guangping Gao, who has been researching gene therapy for over 30 years and has discovered AAV7, AAV8, and AAV9 for therapeutic development, and Prof. Jae-Hyuck Shim, an expert in genetic therapy for bone disorders.

"We have high hopes for the joint research and development conducted with the research team from UMass, a globally renowned institution in the field of AAV research," Dong-A ST CEO Park Jaehong said. "We will do our best to develop innovative new drugs for chronic inflammatory diseases and use this joint research as a foundation for future-oriented R&D in the gene therapy field."

Write to In-Hyuk Park at hyuk@hankyung.com