Curom Bioscience (CEO Joo-Seok Yoon) , a company specializing in the development of treatments for rare and intractable diseases, announced on the 29th that its non-clinical technology development project for a novel Leber's optic neuropathy (LHON) treatment based on NQO1 was finally selected for the '2025 Scale-Up TIPS R&D Project' hosted by the Korea Technology Information Promotion Agency under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
Scale-up Tips is a private-sector-led research and development (R&D) program whereby private operators (consortiums of VCs and R&D specialists) invest more than 1 billion won in promising companies at the scale-up stage, and the government provides matching investment or R&D subsidies of up to 1x the amount of the investment (up to 2 billion won).
Curom Biosciences was selected for the project through investment and recommendation from Scaleup Partners and will receive up to KRW 1.2 billion in R&D funding over the next three years. The project aims to verify the nonclinical efficacy and safety of NQO1-based NAD⁺ promoter candidates. The project will include nonclinical efficacy evaluations, GLP toxicity testing, and formulation optimization studies.
LHON is a rare and intractable disease caused by mitochondrial DNA mutations that damage the optic nerve. It causes rapid vision loss within months, and currently approved treatments are limited in their effectiveness. Curombiosciences is developing a new drug targeting NQO1, a NAD⁺ stimulatory mitochondrial activation technology, to restore damaged optic nerve function.
CEO Yoon Joo-seok stated, “Through this selection for the Scale-Up Tips project, we will prove the potential of LHON treatment and strengthen the foundation for entering global clinical trials based on non-clinical studies,” and “We will also expand our global new drug pipeline in the area of rare diseases such as PSC.”
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