SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. said Sunday it plans to carry out clinical tests for its epilepsy drug candidate in four countries as part of a government program to cultivate blockbuster drugs, targeting the international market.

The drug unit of Korea’s third-largest conglomerate has since 2006 been developing a medicine for intractable epilepsy, a set of chronic neurological disorders typified by seizures. The product, codenamed YKP3089, is currently in small-scale second-phase trials in the U.S.

The government launched a program last year to produce at least 10 hit drugs by 2020, aiming for a 5.4 percent stake in the global pharmaceutical market.

It plans to pump 30 billion won ($26.6 million) this year into the 1 trillion won project to offer funds, tax breaks and low-interest loans to drugmakers.

Under an agreement, the government will provide subsidies for the company’s full-fledged, second-phase tests in Korea, the U.S., India and Poland. The deal terms were not disclosed.

Cho Jeong-woo, vice president of the firm’s drug development business, said the drug candidate “showed excellent effects in controlling seizures” during clinical tests in the U.S.

“Commercial sales of YKP3089 will be able to begin as early as 2017 if we succeed in the latter part of the second-phase trials and the third ones,” he said.

More than 50 million people around the world, including 200,000 in Korea, suffer from epilepsy, according to the World Health Organization. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of patients are diagnosed as intractable.

SK Biopharm estimates the global market for anti-seizure drugs at $3.5 billion.
By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)