At the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Hyundai Bioscience unveiled groundbreaking preclinical results for Penetrium, a novel therapy designed to address the challenges of cold tumors and metastatic cancer. Scientists uncovered a paradigm-shifting insight into cancer treatment failure: what was long attributed to genetic resistance in cold tumors is, in many cases, actually pseudo-resistance. This newly defined phenomenon arises not from cellular mutations, but from physical barriers—specifically, the stiffening of the extracellular matrix (ECM), which blocks immune cells and therapeutic agents from reaching the tumor core. By targeting and remodeling the ECM with Penetrium, Hyundai has demonstrated that it’s possible to restore infiltration pathways, effectively re-sensitizing tumors to treatments that previously failed.

Hyundai Bioscience is expanding clinical trials for Penetrium, including a Phase 1 trial for prostate cancer in South Korea and preparations for an investigator-initiated trial for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in France.

In preclinical models, Penetrium demonstrated significant efficacy across multiple cancer types. In triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), combining Penetrium with anti-PD-1 therapy resulted in a 48.3% reduction in tumor burden compared to anti-PD-1 alone, with complete elimination of metastasis in the combination group. In metastatic lung cancer models, Penetrium™ paired with bevacizumab achieved complete suppression of lung metastasis at a 100 mg/kg dosage, outperforming bevacizumab monotherapy, which showed only 33% suppression. Furthermore, combining Penetrium™ with paclitaxel reduced metastatic lesion areas by over 70–80% compared to controls, enhancing chemotherapy efficacy without additional toxicity. In naturally occurring canine mammary cancer models, the Penetrium and POLYTAXEL® combination reduced primary tumor volume by up to 38.7%, with metastatic lymph node lesions showing up to 78.99% reduction.

Penetrium was administered at less than 9% of the No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) in a 13-week GLP-compliant toxicity study. Its safety has also been verified in humans during a Phase 2 COVID-19 trial using the same active pharmaceutical ingredient, niclosamide.

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