127, 14 years, $360 billion

the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amounts to 14 years. In the U.S., the cost of managing Alzheimer's disease and other diseases is 360 billion dollars. The cost of informal care, 

such as family care, is excluded.

Let's turn to our country. It is certain that the number of people aged 65 and over in the country will exceed 10 million this year, and the number of dementia patients is expected to exceed 1 million. 

The number of elderly people living alone is also approaching 2 million. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the total cost of private care is estimated at W10 trillion, but some experts 

predict that it will exceed W15 trillion. The problem is the pace of aging. By 2030, one in four Koreans is 65 or older, and it is estimated that there will be more than 1.5 million people aged 85 or 

older, whose prevalence of dementia is close to 40 percent.

Super-aging and dementia are approaching us in their stride. If we don't overcome it somehow, we will devour all of a country's social and economic resources. At the forefront of that are K-biotec 

heads who have waded through this terrifying forest of numbers to conquer global dementia. finds them and meets hope. [Editor's Note]

Following Leqembi (component name Lecanemab) last year, Kisunla (component name Donanemab) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is about to be marketed, 

drawing attention from the medical community as a monoclonal antibody drug targeting amyloid beta (Aβ), a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

According to a recent study by Jeffrey Cummings, a professor of brain health at the University of Nevada, published in an international journal published by the American Alzheimer's Association (AA), 

as of this year, there are a total of 127 drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease, of which 18% (23) are targeted for Aβ.

However, a growing number of bio companies are accelerating research and development of treatments for Alzheimer's disease with different approaches. Kang Sang-won, CEO of VasThera, challenged

the challenge of overcoming Alzheimer's disease by developing a treatment based on Redox Signaling technology.

After completing his studies at Seoul National University and Yonsei University, Kang worked at the Korea Research Institute of Biotechnology (KRIBB) and moved to the U.S. in 1995 to work as a 

postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Health (NIH), where he was exposed to redox signaling technology. Back then, the NIH was just beginning to research in this field for the first 

time in the world. Kang has been a scholar for 30 years since then.

After returning to Korea in 2002, Kang continued his research when he was appointed as a professor of life sciences at Ewha Womans University, and established VasThera as a teacher's start-up 

in January 2018 and transferred related patent technology from the school. VasThera is a company that develops oral low-molecular treatments targeting peroxiredoxin defense syndrome (PDS), 

and is expanding its pipeline to neurodegenerative diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. We asked CEO Kang about the development process 

of redox signaling technology and the possibility of developing new drugs for dementia.

Q. You are a first-generation pioneer in redox signaling. Please explain this technology.

Redox is well known to the general public as free oxygen. It means that when free oxygen increases, oxidative stress increases, causing cell damage. Free oxygen is divided into two types, and 

the general public knows most of them about oxidative stress.

The idea that redox is a signal that actually works inside cells was first reported in 1995. It wasn't even addressed as important by academia before. I started doing research in this field in NIH, 

the United States, where I was.

After entering Korea, Ewha Womans University continued its research and in 2005, the researchers discovered for the first time peroxidoxin (Prdx), a key regulatory enzyme in the redox signaling 

mechanism. It has been 10 years since the researchers started their research. Peroxidoxin regulates the concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the cytoplasm and cytoplasm. 

The research was published in Nature, an international journal.

In 2013, eight years later, we discovered for the first time that inactivation of peroxyredoxin enzymes causes arterial vascular disease. The study was published in Circulation, an international journal

on cardiovascular clinical studies.

When I first studied it, it was no different from barren land, but now Redox signal transmission has become a field of attention to the extent that an independent society has been established and 

actively operated.


Q. You started your own business in 2018 after continuing your research. Is it okay to say that this technology has entered a stage where it is mature enough to be commercialized?

It's still an unexplored area. Basic research is active, but it hasn't advanced to the commercialization stage. When I started this research, I received a lot of patents, but no company in Korea showed 

interest in technology transfer. Then, in 2017, the Ministry of Science and ICT applied for a contest for a start-up project and was finally selected. The evaluators found out new materials and mechanisms.

I've been researching new drugs for five years since I discovered in 2013 that the absence of peroxyredoxin enzymes can lead to tissue proliferation, dysfunction, and damage, resulting in disease. 

I started with the idea that if the enzyme dies and a disease occurs, we can find a way to reactivate the enzyme and turn it into a treatment.

Vasthera is the first company in the world to develop a new drug in search of a low-molecular compound that releases activity in place of this enzyme. If our company succeeds, 

we expect global biotech interest in this field to increase.

Q. Please describeVasThera's main pipeline.

VasThera is a platform company that develops new low-molecular-weight compound drugs based on scaffolding that mimics the activation of peroxidase (GPx) of peroxidoxin enzymes. Redoxizyme, 

the first platform technology, can design peroxidoxin-mimicking synthetic low-molecular nanoenzymes.

With this platform technology, various substances are released, so that the pipeline related to chronic diseases can be expanded. Various joint research is also possible. Currently, we are 

focusing on developing treatment for arterial vascular disease and dementia. The drug we developed is such a small molecular compound that it passes through the cerebrovascular barrier (BBB)

and enters the blood vessel wall well. In the area of cancer, it's in the basic research stage.

Especially in dementia, it targets reactive astrocytes. Right now, we're focusing on developing antibody treatments that eliminate the amyloid beta (Aβ) or Tau proteins as treatments for dementia. 

The activation of astrocytes is also what causes dementia. We're studying the mechanism that prevents the activation of astrocytes with peroxyredoxin enzymes.

Additionally, peroxyredoxin protects nerve cells. On the other hand, the substance we study has a dual function that prevents astrocytes from being activated while preventing nerve cells from dying. 

So it works both ways.

Q. Any other pipelines?

I am also interested in clinical diagnosis as I am developing new drugs with a new mechanism. We are also developing early diagnosis technology. Diagnostic technology

 is also required to succeed in clinical trials.

Q. What do you think is the direction of dementia treatment research?

Dementia treatment may not just eliminate amyloid beta. It also has a high rate of vascular dementia. In neural networks, not only nerve cells but also various cells such as microglia 

and astrocytes are combined. Redox signal regulation technology is the multiplex mechanism. I think that if we approach it with this technology, we may have a higher chance of 

successful dementia treatment. Peroxiredoxin works in both blood vessels and nerve cells. So it can be controlled all at once.


Q. I was also selected for this year's R&D project to overcome dementia.

A non-clinical study of candidate compounds for first-in-class Alzheimer's disease drugs that regulate the function of Prdx in reactive imaginary glial cells. It runs until 2026. 

We have platform technology and a mouse model, so we can proceed with the research quickly. Two years ago, we also joined a project leader with extensive research experience in dementia.

The assignment period is 3 years, but I'm aiming to finish it quickly. It's a non-clinical task, but I'm aiming to enter clinical trials as well. It's not an antibody, it's easy to produce, 

and I think I can finish it in a short period of time because I've completed a preliminary experiment.

Q. How likely is there to be a cure for dementia?

I think neural network regeneration can be done by controlling astrocytes. However, a cure is quite challenging at the current technology level. Drugs that can detect and treat dementia 

early and clearly have the effect of slowing down the progression will be developed soon.

All attention is on antibody treatments, but there may be hope in a whole new field. It's a completely fundamental change in the approach itself. Of course, I think it's very meaningful 

that antibody treatments like Rechemby have come out and opened a new way in the field of dementia treatment.

However, as many big pharmas are investing in dementia treatment research and technological development is accelerating, wouldn't the development of new drugs, which took

20 to 30 years in the past, now be resolved in 2-3 years.


Q. What's difficult after starting a business?

Being a professor, I know technology well, but business management was difficult. In the beginning of the business, it wasn't easy to switch from a professor to a businessman. 

Now, it's not that difficult to pitch in person and actively meet and communicate with industry officials and investors.

Q. What is VasThera's dream?

We are developing new drugs ourselves with the technology we have carried out from basic research. It is true that the path we have walked so far has not been smooth and is still difficult. 

However, for the first time in the world, a substance patent was received through domestic research, and a new mechanism was discovered and new drug candidates were discovered. 

If the clinical trial is successful, it will be the first case in the domestic bio industry to start from pure research and open the door to commercialization.


Q. What do you want to say to the readers of Dimencia News.

The pain experienced by dementia patients and their families is indescribable. However, the bio industry continues to hear hopeful news recently. 

I believe that one day, the moment of overcoming dementia will surely come.