On Monday, Inventage Lab, a drug delivery platform company, announced that it received final approval for a patent in South Korea (application number 10-2024-0162382) for its liposome formulation and manufacturing method using semaglutide.
This patent focuses on technology that stably encapsulates semaglutide or its salts within nanoparticles to maximize bioavailability. The company successfully refined its patent claims and clarified its technological differentiation during the review process, leading to the final registration.
The global obesity treatment market has recently seen intense competition in developing oral formulations that maximize convenience.
Currently approved drugs include Novo Nordisk’s Rybelsus (containing semaglutide) and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (containing tirzepatide). However, Rybelsus, an oral obesity medication using peptides, has a bioavailability of only about 1%, significantly limiting its efficacy and dosage determination.
Inventage Lab has addressed this challenge head-on with its advanced peptide oral delivery platform, IVL-PePOFluidicTM. By applying this technology to semaglutide, the benchmark drug for this patent, they achieved approximately 14 times higher systemic exposure compared to the oral reference drug after 24 hours.
The company reported a breakthrough, significantly increasing the previously low bioavailability of the reference drug by several dozen times, maintaining blood concentrations for over 24 hours with a single dose, and greatly improving the half-life.
In addition to this liposome technology, Inventage Lab is actively securing intellectual property (IP) for various polymer peptide oral formulation technologies to optimize oral delivery. This strategy aims to build an efficient platform that provides customized delivery systems tailored to different drug characteristics, rather than being limited to a single formulation.
Following this patent registration, Inventage Lab plans to accelerate the commercialization of its technology. They intend to initiate discussions for licensing out (L/O) and co-development with global pharmaceutical companies, leveraging their high bioavailability and extended duration.
Their strategy includes establishing a technological advantage in the global obesity treatment market through verified data and a robust patent defense network.
Kim Joo-hee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Inventage Lab, stated that this patent registration is expected to be a significant milestone in improving bioavailability, which has been the biggest challenge in the global obesity drug market for the IVL-PePOFluidicTM platform. It will continue to secure various formulation technology IP for optimizing oral delivery, aiming to become a leading global drug delivery system (DDS) provider that offers the highest convenience to patients.
Meanwhile, Inventage Lab is developing improved new drugs with a DDS platform capable of high quality and mass production.
Key platforms include the long-acting injectable platform IVL-DrugFluidic and the subcutaneous (SC) formulation platform for biopharmaceuticals IVL-BioFluidic. With significant funding, they expect to enhance production capabilities and accelerate commercialization.
The company also plans to actively expand its development and production capabilities for genetic material-based formulations, such as mRNA, pDNA, and LNPs, moving beyond traditional peptide and small molecule-based DDS.
Last year, they acquired Quratis, a company specializing in vaccine development and contract development and manufacturing (CDMO), securing good manufacturing practices (GMP) manufacturing facilities in the process.