KAERI Launches Spin-Off Company Insgen, Inc.

- Technology contribution of ‘anti-diabetic and anti-cancer  substances  using banaba and moringa’ to establish spin-off company Insgen, Inc.-

 Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has launched its sixth research institute spin-off company using independently developed technology. KAERI announced on November 1, 2021 that it signed a technology contribution contract on October 28, 2021 to establish the spin-off company Insgen, Inc. based on technology using bio-food and drug ingredients to produce diabetes and cancer fighting substances. 

 Insgen, Inc. is a subsidiary under Apimeds, Inc. (subsidiary of KOSPI listed company Inscobee, Inc.) focusing on the development of health supplements and new drugs based on natural products. With this contract, Insgen, Inc. will be launched as a new KAERI spin-off company. Under the contract, KAERI will be contributing the technology, while Apimeds, Inc. will be investing funds. Additional funds will come from investors including Korea Science & Technology Holdings and private investment funds. A contract on the establishment and operation of a research institute spin-off company between multiple parties was also established on the same date. 

 A research institute spin-off company is a company established under the Special Act on Promotion Of Special Research And Development Zones in one of the five special zones with authorization from the Minister of Science and ICT for a public research institute to directly commercialize its technology. Korea Science & Technology Holdings, one of the key investors in this contract, is a joint technology holding company established by 17 government-funded research institutes pooling together capital to promote the commercialization of research output. 

  Insgen, Inc. is founded on two key technologies developed by KAERI researcher Dr. Il Lae Jung, namely, technology to produce an anti-diabetic functional food supplement based on a combination of Lagerstroemia speciosa, Momordica charantia and Paeonia lactiflora, and technology to produce an orally administered anti-cancer drug candidate using a plant-derived water-soluble extract from Moringa oleifera leaf. Both technologies have demonstrated outstanding efficacy against diabetes and cancer in mouse non-clinical trials.. 

 The newly developed anti-diabetic supplement derived from natural products has low toxicity and demonstrated excellent efficacy against various causes of type-2 diabetes, a condition in which the body fails to regulate blood sugar levels adequately. The Moringa extract derived anti-cancer drug candidate showed efficacy in liver cancer, skin cancer and breast cancer, with over 95% tumor reduction from just two-week oral administration demonstrated in mice with malignant non-small cell lung cancer cells.

 Insgen, Inc.‘s immediate plan is to brings its technology-based health supplements to the market while long-term plans include the independent development of new natural products-based drugs through clinical trials. The research and development was conducted with funding from KAERI R&D projects and national R&D projects under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Two papers related to Insgen, Inc. technologies have been published in SCI-grade international journals while three patents have been registered in Korea and overseas.  KAERI has an established track record of successful spin-off company launches, beginning in 2006 with Kolmar BNH Co., Ltd., Korea’s first research institute spin-off company, followed by Seoul Propolis Co., Ltd., DuchemBio, Co., Ltd. , Accuscan, Inc., and Ravi Co., Ltd.

 Dr. Il Lae Jung who led the research project expressed great hopes for the technology, saying, “we will develop new drugs with high added value based on these technologies to improve the health of diabetes and cancer patients.”  President Won-Seok Park also promised continued support for Insgen, Inc., saying, “KAERI will provide full support to Insgen, Inc. with the vision of Insgen, Inc. becoming the next big success story in research institute spin-off companies.”