AIMS BioScience to Lead Project for Developing New Antimicrobial Substances

AIMS BioScience, a consulting firm specializing in new drug development strategy and part of the Ildong Pharmaceutical Group, has been selected to lead a project focused on accelerating the development of novel antimicrobial substances. The initiative aims to establish a "decentralized infrastructure-linked technical support group operating model" to facilitate this goal.

The core objective of this project is to create a support system that enables researchers and companies to more easily find the experts and testing institutions required during the development process. This effort is part of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's "Research Capacity Enhancement Project for Overcoming Infectious Diseases" and will utilize funds donated by the family of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The research phase is slated to last six months.

Developing new antimicrobial substances, which are crucial for inhibiting or eliminating infectious microorganisms like bacteria, involves multiple complex stages. These include verifying a candidate substance's effectiveness against bacteria, conducting animal testing, performing toxicity evaluations, studying how the drug behaves within the body, and developing manufacturing processes. Currently, universities, research institutions, hospitals, and bio-ventures often struggle to conduct all these steps independently.

This project will not directly fund specific candidate substances or testing costs. Instead, it will focus on diagnosing the specific development stage and identifying bottlenecks for a given candidate material. Subsequently, it will connect the researchers with the necessary experts, testing facilities, analytical services, and manufacturing infrastructure. The plan includes defining the entire process, from application and data review to problem diagnosis, expert and institution matching, progress management, and final evaluation.

AIMS BioScience will map out the support needed at each development stage, including candidate substance optimization, efficacy and mechanism of action evaluation, non-clinical studies, pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) analysis, toxicity testing, and Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC). The operational model developed through this project is expected to undergo pilot operation in 2027 and 2028, with full-scale implementation planned from 2029 to 2031. Han Seung-hoon, CEO of AIMS BioScience, highlighted the existing research capabilities and infrastructure in Korea but noted the lack of a system to connect these resources effectively based on specific development bottlenecks.

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In Korea, there are research capabilities and testing, analysis, and manufacturing infrastructure for antimicrobial substances, but there isn't a sufficient system to connect them according to the development bottlenecks for each candidate substance.