Shaperon, a Korean biotech company, is collaborating with Seoul National University to research inflammatory complexes and develop new drugs using its artificial intelligence platform, AIDEN.

The Kosdaq-listed company said it signed an agreement with Seoul National University for research cooperation. Shaperon plans to expand efficacy of atopic dermatitis drug NuGel and mechanism research through this agreement. This inflammatory complex inhibitor recently entered phase 2 clinical trials in the U.S. to various inflammatory complexes and secure research results on related intracellular signal transduction systems.

The company added that the results will be applied to the AI platform AIDEN to upgrade it into an immune response prediction and inflammatory complex-specific AI platform.

Professor Rajendra Karki of the Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Cell Death, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, will lead the research. Dr. Karki is an active researcher in innate immunity and inflammatory complexes, with publications in prestigious journals, including Nature, Science, and Cell.

Shaperon is developing small molecule-based anti-inflammatory therapeutics and testing their clinical efficacy in various inflammatory diseases, including atopic dermatitis and Alzheimer's. Existing compounds have been clinically applied based on their ability to inhibit the NLRP3 inflammatory complex, but there are other inflammatory complexes, such as NLRP1, NLRC4, and AIM2.

By identifying the signal transduction pathways and evaluating the inhibitory capabilities of these various inflammatory complexes, Shaperon plans to secure the possibility of developing therapeutics for each inflammatory complex-specific disease.

In addition, it will apply the results of this research to enhance our AI platform, AIDEN. AIDEN is an immune response prediction and inflammatory complex-specific AI platform that applies public data on immune responses and compounds, as well as over 15 years of research results accumulated by Shaperon.

AIDEN has a track record of success in developing novel inflammatory skin disease therapeutics, moving from lead discovery through optimization to patentable lead compounds in six months.

Shaperon said it plans to apply various inflammatory complex research results obtained through this research agreement to AIDEN to expand the scope of immune response prediction and develop substances specific to various inflammatory responses. In addition, new immune response results will be continuously trained into AIDEN to structure complex immune responses and find clues to treat immune diseases.

“Based on various basic studies, we are securing the possibility of developing new drugs that overcome the limitations of existing drugs, thereby expanding the scope of unrivaled drug development,” a Shaperon official said. “Through this research agreement, we will collaborate with excellent researchers at top academic institutions to secure more efficient and reliable results and establish ourselves as a leader in treating inflammatory diseases.”