[THE INVESTOR] Ilyang Pharmaceutical announced Aug. 17 that its anti-leukemia agent Radotinib has been found effective to treat Parkinson’s disease.

The team of Ko Han-seok, assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has found from animal testing that Radotinib decreased aggregation of a protein named alpha-synuclein, a major constituents of protein clumps that are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. They also confirmed that it hindered activation of c-ABL, which researchers believe can stop or slow down the disease.

Based on this results, the South Korean pharmaceutical company and Ko’s research team are jointly developing treatment for Parkinson’s disease based on the material.

The exact cause of the chronic, degenerative neurological disorder is unknown, but research shows that it results from the loss of cells in certain parts of the brain.

“Radotinib is already proven safe as it has been sold as Supect for leukemia treatment for years,” said the company official, adding that “the development will be accelerated as only the efficacy is proven at clinical trials.”

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)