INTERVIEW Medipost to unlock potential in regenerative medicine
Medipost CEO Yang Yoon-sun / Courtesy of Medipost
Stem cell drug maker seeks market splash with injectable osteoarthritis treatment
By Nam Hyun-woo
SEONGNAM, Gyeonggi Province -- In 2014, Stem cell drug maker Medipost garnered attention after treating renowned football manager Guus Hiddink's knee with the company's cartilage regeneration therapy, Cartistem.
Two years later, the Dutch football coach was announced to be “completely recovered,” and the sales of Cartistem grew six-fold to 13.7 billion won ($11.62 million) in 2018 from 700 million won in 2012, when the treatment debuted in Korea.
Medipost's Cartistem cartilage regeneration therapy / Courtesy of Medipost
Buoyed by Cartistem's success, Medipost is now working on a new knee cartilage regeneration therapy. This time, the company is developing an injectable treatment, which CEO Yang Yoon-sun said will create a market splash with its easier application and scalability.
“There are too many arthritis patients showing a broad range of conditions, while the number of treatments remains limited,” Yang said during an interview with The Korea Times at Medipost's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
“The injectable treatment is our next-generation treatment for patients who are reluctant to undergo joint replacement or other surgical treatment. With its potential, we believe the new treatment will play a significant role in Medipost's goal of helping more people to age well.”
The treatment, codename SMUP-IA-01, is a mesenchymal stem cell one based on the company's SMUP-Cells. Unlike existing knee osteoarthritis treatments involving surgery, the new treatment will directly inject SMUP-Cells into knee joints, allowing moderate patients, who have relied on oral drugs so far, to see an improvement in their condition more easily.
In September, Medipost received the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's approval for a phase 1 trial of SMUP-IA-01, and has been testing the drug with Seoul National University, finishing the first round of injections, Oct. 14.
“Since we are in the initial stages, I don't want to exaggerate the drug's efficacy in treating knees, but we have high expectations on the drug's scalability, because it is a trailblazer for our next generation stem cell technology,” she said.
According to Yang, the phase 1 trial will provide more data which will verify whether SMUP-Cells can be used to treat osteoarthritis in hips, ankles and other joints. Also, she said the company is tapping into SMUP-Cells treatment by intravenous injection, targeting diabetic nephropathy, dementia and hair loss.
“Medipost is pursuing a dream of stem cells being used for treating or improving aging-related conditions of the whole body and we believe intravenous injections are a step forward to doing that,” she said. “And this will bring a tremendous market opportunity that goes beyond our imagination.”
Along with the development of SMUP-IA-01, Medipost plans to roll out its existing Cartistem treatment in Japan. The company applied for phase 2 trials of the drug to Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency in November and expects to see it granted this week. In the U.S., it has finished phase 1/2a trials.
Cartistem was commercialized in Korea in 2012 as the world's first drug using stem cells collected from other people. It surpassed the 10 billion won mark in yearly sales in 2017 and more than 1,100 vials were sold in the first quarter of this year.
According to market tracker GlobalData, the number of knee osteoarthritis cases in the seven major markets in the world stood at 117.89 million, and this is expected to grow to 131.46 million by 2026. The seven countries are the U.S., Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.
Medipost's 'Celltree' cord blood bank at the company's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Medipost
Infrastructure for stem cell therapy
Despite the company building its reputation with Cartistem, most of the company's sales come from its cord blood banking business, accounting for 47.3 percent of 44.34 billion won last year.
The cord blood bank is a facility storing umbilical cord blood for future use as a source of stem cells which will be used for treating genetic, blood and immune system disorders among others.
Medipost opened its cord blood bank in 2000, mostly offering a 15-year storage service for people preparing for potential stem cell transplantation in the future. Yang said, however, growing numbers of people are using the service amid recent progress in regenerative medicine.
“These days, most customers opt to store cord blood for 40 years or longer, because the scalability of stem cells has grown in recent years to cover more disorders such as cerebral palsy, polio and developmental disorders,” she said.
“With the progress of regenerative medicine, the coverage will expand, and storing cord blood for stem cell therapies will be a more reasonable preventive measure in the future.”
According to Medipost, its Celltree Cord Blood Bank in the basement of its headquarters was storing cord blood for 247,934 families as of Nov. 15. In terms of accumulated storage, Medipost is the largest cord blood bank in Korea with a 43 percent market share.
“Though the importance of cord blood banking continues to grow, we see the business as our infrastructure rather than a future growth driver,” Yang said. “The cord blood bank's share in our total sales stood at 80 percent in 2012, but it declined to the current level because of Cartistem's growth.”
Along with the two businesses, the company has Pneumostem and Neurostem stem cell drugs in its pipeline. Pneumostem is a preventive treatment for bronchopulmonary dysplasia based on stem cells derived from cord blood. It is in phase 2 clinical trials in Korea and has finished Phase 1/2 clinical trials in the U.S. Neurostem is a stem cell-based Alzheimer's disease treatment and has completed phase 1 trial and the phase 2a trial is ongoing in Korea.
“Medipost is taking steps toward its dream of overcoming aging-related and degenerative diseases with stem cells,” Yang said. “With existing medicines showing their limits in treating such degenerative conditions, stem cell therapy and other regenerative medicine will become the mainstream in the near future.”