The government selected Humedix’s “polynucleotide sodium” (PN) technology as a national research project that will enhance Korea’s technological power, Humedix said.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy picked Humedix’s “medical PN-based production technology with an average molecular weight of 1,000 kDa or more for osteoarthritis injection and wound dressing” for the 2022 Excellent Enterprise Research Center Support Project (Advanced Technology Center (ATC)+), the company said on Tuesday.

Humedix will receive around 2 billion won from the government to localize PN production technology for medical use and develop PN-based joint injections and wound dressings. It will also conduct a joint study with the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine to investigate the optimal efficacy of the products.

“The ATC+ project aims to discover and nurture core technologies that will contribute to the nation’s future growth. So, it is difficult to be selected for the project,” an official at Humedix said. “As the government recognized our PN technology and competitiveness, we will do our best to localize PN technology and develop various items using PN to contribute to the economic growth and improvement in public health.”

Through the ATC+ project, the Trade Ministry supports R&D for research institutes affiliated with small- and medium-sized enterprises to nurture them as key players in industrial innovations and improve national technological competitiveness.