▲ CheolHee Won, CEO of Lemonex Inc. (left) and DalHee Min, CTO of Lemonex Inc. (right)

Lemonex Inc., a specialist in biotheurapeutics and fusion technology, succeeded in attracting 3.5 billion won of series A investment from domestic venture capital companies. Lemonex Inc. plans to develop hepatocarcinoma transarterial chemoembolization and female cancer treatment based on our proprietary drug delivery platform. According to the industry on December 12, Lemonex Inc. has finalized a 3.5 billion won of series A investment at the end of February. This investment was funded by the Technology Guarantee Fund, Daekyo Investment, and L&S Venture Capital.
 
Lemonex Inc. is a company founded in 2013 by Dr. CheolHee Won (CEO) and Dr. DalHee Min (chemistry professor at Seoul National University). Lemonex Inc. possesses a sustained-release drug delivery technology, which utilizes mesoporous nano particles to deliver drugs, such as genes, proteins, and low-molecular compounds, to the desired targets with high efficiency. Lemonex Inc. plans to accelerate the development of therapeutic agents for hepatocarcinoma transarterial chemoembolization and female cancer based on the drug delivery technology. The company is currently in pre-clinical phase and is expected to receive clinical trial approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2019.

Transarterial Embolization is a treatment that blocks the blood supply to hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatic arteries are injected with a combination of embolization agents (Lipiodol and Beads (100 ~ 500μm)) and chemotherapy drugs. This is a mostly used first line treatment for patients with liver cancer. However, current embolization has difficulties in delivering drugs to the center of the tumor, thus there is limits in meeting the goals of vascular blockage and drug delivery. Sustained - release drug delivery technology from Lemonex Inc. can be used to control particle size from nano to micro size and has excellent biodegradability. Lemonex Inc. is developing hepatocarcinoma drug and medical device with the Department of Radiology in Seoul National University Hospital. For this, Dr. Young-il Kim (Department of Radiology), who has conducted Transarterial Embolization for 20 years, was recruited as the research director.

In the case of cancer treatment for female, it is a new drug that responds to metastatic cancer that is resistant to multi cancer drugs, which is transferred technology from the Cheil Medical Center early this year. Lemonex Inc. has secured a range of rights of target cancer drug (LEM-OT501) for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine cancer. Ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer are treated with chemotherapy drugs such as paclitaxel and cisplatin, and most patients who do not respond to it die within 5 years. LEM-OT501 is a low-molecular compound that enhances the therapeutic effect of paclitaxel and cisplatin.
"The strength of Lemonex Inc. comes from a biodegradable and sustained-released drug delivery platform that can deliver a variety of therapeutic agents such as low-molecular compounds, protein therapeutics, and gene therapy drugs," said DalHee Min (CTO of Lemonex Inc.) "We are now in the process of evaluating pharmaceuticals and medical devices for application. After application of various software, we will build a cooperative system with global pharmaceutical companies."

CheolHee Won, CEO of Lemonex Inc., said, "In recent years, the technology transfer to global pharmaceutical companies has been based on the sustained drug delivery technology. Since its establishment in December 2013, Lemonex Inc. has published 16 SCI-grade papers in science journals. We are expanding R&D research facilities with this investment and actively recruiting new drug development specialists. We are also expanding our cooperation system with major domestic hospitals such as Seoul National University Hospital, Cheil Medical Center and Samsung Seoul Hospital."

Reference: http://www.biospectator.com/view/news_view.php?varAtcId=5129