"Since last year, the liver cancer treatment 'RZ-001' has been in phase 1 clinical trials, and discussions on technology transfer (license out) with two global companies are continuing."

Seong-wook Lee, CEO of Rznomics, who recently met with a reporter, explained this. Rznomics was founded in August 2017 by Seong-wook Lee, a professor of bio-convergence engineering at Dankook University, a Ph.D. from Cornell University in the U.S. And Rznomics is a bio company that uses RNA substitution enzyme technology that was studied at Duke University to develop new drugs.

CEO Lee said, "If existing RNA editing technology only cuts targets or corrects specific areas, we cut target RNA and replace the entire cut target area with therapeutic RNA at the same time," adding, "It suppresses harmful gene expression and makes positive effects."

For this reason, retinal cells, muscle cells, and nerve cells, which are good to disappear after action, have a strategy to induce gene correction without gene editing by permanently expressing RNA substitution enzymes such as AAV (adenosine virus).

CEO Lee explained, "After liver cancer, glioblastoma is being treated, and we expect to apply various intractable and rare cancers, genetic retinal diseases, and Alzheimer's in the future."

CEO Seong-wook Lee said, "We are directly discovering pipelines for the development of major treatments, but we are also aiming to find pipelines that can apply our RNA platform technology through active cooperative research with the outside world," adding, "We also have a Circular RNA platform technology that can be used as a vaccine and treatment."

Rznomics received approval from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the U.S. FDA last year to conduct phase 1 of RZ-001 clinical trials at five domestic hospitals, and plans to conduct phase 2a clinical trials simultaneously in Korea and the U.S. in the future. Clinical 1/2a for malignant brain tumors has also been applied to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea and is being reviewed, and will also apply to the U.S. FDA within the first quarter.

CEO Lee said, "The RNA treatment and gene therapy market has been proven to be effective in the U.S. after 2017 with FDA approval," and explained, "Rznomics is one of the world's leading research groups in RNA substitution enzyme technology."

Rznomics received a cumulative investment of 60.9 billion won last year, including Series C, and Korea Development Bank, Aeon Investment, Partners Investment, IBK Capital, Quad Ventures, SBI Investment, Shinhan Venture Investment, and UTC Investment participated as investors. It will receive a technical evaluation in the second half of this year and request a preliminary review of KOSDAQ listing in the first half of next year.