JW Pharmaceutical announced on March 27 that it had obtained a patent from the Russian Intellectual Property Office (Rospatent) for "JW0061", a treatment for Wnt-targeted hair loss.
This is the first time that a substance patent for JW0061 has been registered. The company has also applied for patents in more than 10 countries including Korea, the US, Europe, Japan and China.
JW0061 is a first-in-class candidate substance that promotes hair follicle proliferation and hair regeneration by activating the Wnt signaling pathway in skin and hair follicle stem cells.
It is expected to be effective in hair loss symptoms such as androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata, and to have excellent preventive effects.
JW Pharmaceutical participated in the Wnt 2022 conference held in Japan last November and disclosed the preclinical results of JW0061 for the first time.
According to the presentation, the mechanism by which JW0061 directly binds to the GFRA1 protein in breast milk cells and activates the Wnt signaling pathway was newly identified.
In addition, the results of animal experiments that confirmed the superior hair growth and hair follicle generation effect of JW0061 compared to the placebo group were also disclosed.
Hair growth is repeated in three stages in the order of anagen, catagen, and telogen. This is the result of applying JW0061 more than 30% (15 days) earlier than the entry point of the growth phase, which takes an average of 50 days or more.
JW Pharmaceutical aims to initiate clinical trials of JW0061 in the first half of 2024, and is also conducting joint research with key medical staff in the field of dermatology in the United States.
“Rospatent is meaningful in that JW0061, a first-in-class new drug candidate, was recognized as the original technology in the overseas market," said an official from JW Pharmaceutical. "We plan to develop JW0061 as a new innovative drug that complements and replaces existing hair loss treatments.”
