Ildong Pharmaceutical said Friday that it has presented data regarding IDX-1197, a target immunotherapy candidate, at the 2018 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Chicago.

IDX-1197 is a targeted anticancer drug that inhibits the action of the enzyme PARP (Poly ADP-ribose polymerase), which treats DNA damage in tumor cells, to kill cancer.

According to the data presented at the conference, IDX-1197 showed superior effects against cancer than conventional PARP inhibitors in animal studies. Also, pre-clinical trials comparing the drug with existing PARP inhibitor drugs showed excellent anti-cancer effects.

“Especially, the drug showed had wider indications and applications compared with other drugs,” the company said in a statement. “Based on the results, the company is optimistic about developing the candidate into a drug.”

Ildong is developing IDX-1197 with the National Onco Venture, which is under the National Cancer Drug Development Center. The drug is undergoing phase 1 clinical trials at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. The company noted that the candidate has strong commercialization potentials as it showed wide efficacy range with little side effects.

Ildong Pharmaceutical plans to expand the drug’s indications on various cancers while developing multiple treatment options for the medications as monotherapy and combination therapies.

The company has already acquired patents for IDX-1197 in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Japan, Singapore and Australia, and plans to pursue various commercialization strategies such as drug development and licensing agreements depending on the progress of the drug’s research and development.