Incurix, a company that develops anticancer drugs targeting transcription factors, has presented the first pipeline clinical data (Approval number NCC2016-0208) at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) held in April. 

The AACR is one of the largest conferences in the world, with participation from leading pharmaceutical and bio companies worldwide, and presentation is confirmed through selection by the organizers.

The research results to be presented were obtained through collaborative research with the National Cancer Center's clinical research team. 

Myc is a well-known factor that is overexpressed not only in solid tumors but also in blood cancers and is infamous for its role as a switch that promotes tumors. The activation of Myc in cancer leads to rapid resistance and progression to tumor promotion, making it a popular target in cancer treatment.

Incurix is developing a new anticancer drug designed to interfere with the Myc/Max complex's approach to DNA binding sequences E-Box in cancer cells. At this conference, Incurix presented indication-related clinical data on the groundbreaking potential of a novel anticancer drug, ICX-101, targeting Myc, which is highly expressed in progressive lung cancer patients.

We confirmed the potential for ICX-101 to control cancer in connection with indications related to the high expression of myc in more than 100 clinical samples from about 80 lung cancer patients. They analyzed the myc expression rates for four types of lung cancer tissues (ADC, SQCC, NSCLC, SCLC) and confirmed the correlation between myc expression and tumor genes (ALK, BRAF, EGFR, MET).

We also confirmed the association of overall survival rates with the high level of myc expression. Furthermore, we showed the response rate to ICX-101 treatment using a patient-derived lung cancer cell model based on the level of myc expression.

ICX-101 showed a significant concentration-dependent inhibitory effect in vitro when administered to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) overexpressing myc, and showed more than 50% improvement in anticancer effect compared to the positive control group in the final time zone. It is a drug that has been shown to have a clear inhibitory effect in direct analysis methods of interaction with Myc protein.

We confirmed the potential of ICX-101 as an effective targeted therapy for lung cancer and expect that it will become a critical treatment option for lung cancer patients who overexpress myc. ICX-101 can also be applied to various solid tumors and blood cancers, and a combination treatment strategy is also possible.

Dr. Jeong, the CEO of Incurix, stated, "We plan to strengthen our foundation for global market expansion by presenting our accumulated data at overseas academic conferences. We also plan to release data on other anti-cancer drug candidates early on to create an opportunity to promote the potential excellence of our pipeline externally."