Voronoi said Friday that its next-generation non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) drug candidate, VRN11, has been selected as a new non-clinical support project by the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF).

Voronoi said its Tagrisso-resistant C797S mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment had been selected for the government's new drug development project.
Voronoi said its Tagrisso-resistant C797S mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment had been selected for the government's new drug development project.

Voronoi will receive 1.2 billion won ($920,000) in full-time research and development expenses for VRN11 over the next two years.

VRN11 is a phosphorylation inhibitor that treats patients with NSCLC precisely for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) C797S mutation and other rare EGFR mutations after taking third-generation targeted treatments such as Tagrisso (ingredient name: osimertinib).

According to the company, earlier preclinical experiments confirmed selectivity and brain permeability that surpasses EGFR non-small cell lung cancer target treatments developed by global competitors. Voronoi plans to disclose its VRN11 preclinical research data for the first time at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in October.

Voronoi and its subsidiary B2S Bio were selected last year as non-clinical research and candidate materials for MPS1 inhibitory target therapy and HER2 positive breast cancer treatment in the national new drug development project.

"We demonstrated our technology once again by being selected for the second consecutive year for the government’s new drug development project," Voronoi CEO Kim Dae-kwon said. "We plan to accelerate VRN11 R&D to enter phase 1 clinical trials next year."

Voronoi developed many materials with much higher selectivity and blood-brain barrier penetration technologies based on its unique drug design technology. It conducted four technology transfers, including three to the U.S. in 2020 and last year, with track records amounting to 2.1 trillion won.

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