Korean pharmaceutical companies are rushing to enter the pet treatment market, focusing R&D particularly on diseases like diabetes and cognitive impairment from which old pets tend to suffer.
In 2019, 5.9 million Korean households, or 26.4 percent of the total, raised a pet. Industry officials said the domestic pet market is expected to grow to 6 trillion won ($5.39 billion) in 2027.
Pharmaceutical firms said the demand for treatments for aged pets was on the rise. Their entry into the pet care market will expand treatment options for pets, as well, they said.
On Thursday, Daewoong Pharmaceutical disclosed the results of a clinical trial of Enavogliflozin (DWP16001), a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor for antidiabetic effect, for a pet, at a conference hosted by the Korean Society of Veterinary Science.
Daewoong is developing Enavogliflozin also as a type-2 diabetes treatment for humans. The company aims to roll out the drug in Korea in 2023.
According to Daewoong, one in 300 pet dogs and one in 200 pet cats are diabetic. Most diabetes in pets is insulin-dependent diabetes or type-1 diabetes.
However, there has not been an oral drug for diabetic animals. Most pets with diabetes get insulin injections for treatment.
Five institutions, including Professor Youn Hwa-young’s research team at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine, confirmed Enavogliflozin’s blood sugar control effect and safety in dogs whose blood sugar was not sufficiently controlled with insulin.
In the trial, the research team compared fructosamine, fasting glucose, and insulin changes between the group treated with daily insulin+Enavogliflozine and the group with the combo once per three days for eight weeks. Then, the research team additionally observed changes in weight and blood pressure.
The results showed that fructosamine concentration went down by about 20 percent in the once-daily combo therapy group and 15 percent in the once-per-three-days group. In both groups, the drug candidate demonstrated meaningful blood sugar control.
Insulin dose was 25 percent lower in the once-daily group and 15 percent lower in the once-per-three-days group. The figure in the once-daily group was statistically significant, Daewoong said.
There was no statistically significant difference in fasting glucose between the two groups. The two showed a tendency to decrease.
The former group had a 5 percent reduction in weight, and the latter, a 2 percent reduction. The former also showed 20mmHg lower blood pressure, which was statistically significant, the company said.
There were no serious adverse reactions such as diabetic ketoacidosis or severe hypoglycemia during the administration of Enavogliflozin.
Daewoong Pharmaceutical CEO Jeon Seng-ho said developing a veterinary medicine for diabetic pets could be a new business option. There is no oral antidiabetic drug for pets other than insulin injections.
Earlier this month, Yuhan Corp. released GedaCure (ingredient: crisdesalazine) to treat dogs with cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS) in partnership with GNT Pharma.
Developed by GNT Pharma, GedaCure is the nation’s first treatment for dogs with CDS. It won approval from the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency in February.
Supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Brain Frontier Project, GNT Pharma developed crisdesalazine as a new synthetic drug that projects brain nerve cells. The drug is designed to prevent free radicals and inflammation, which play an important role in the onset and progression of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
According to Yuhan, CDS in dogs not only lowers the quality of life of dogs but negatively affects the life of guardians because the dogs could urinate or defecate in the wrong place or bark in the middle of the night without any reason.
Yuhan emphasized that administering crisdesalazine to an animal model of Alzheimer's, amyloid plaques, and brain nerve cell death, known as the cause of Alzheimer's dementia, were significantly reduced, and cognitive function was improved.