HK inno.N (195940.KQ) and Onconic Therapeutics (476060.KQ) unveiled clinical study results for their potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB) class gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) drugs at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2026, the world's largest digestive disease conference. HK inno.N has launched "K-CAB" (generic name tegoprazan) as Korea's 30th domestic new drug, while Onconic Therapeutics has launched "Jaqbo" as the 37th.
Sebela Pharmaceuticals, HK inno.N's U.S. partner, presented Phase 3 clinical trial results on tegoprazan for the treatment and maintenance therapy of erosive esophagitis. Sebela compared the efficacy and safety of the two drugs after administering either 100 mg of tegoprazan or 30 mg of lansoprazole, a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) class drug, to 1,250 patients with erosive esophagitis. The complete healing rate at eight weeks was 84.6% for tegoprazan and 78.0% for lansoprazole, demonstrating the non-inferiority and superiority of tegoprazan. Tegoprazan is the first P-CAB class treatment in the United States to demonstrate superiority over PPIs.
In patients with severe erosive esophagitis (LA grades C and D), tegoprazan's effect was even more pronounced. In the 24-week maintenance efficacy assessment, tegoprazan also showed superior results compared to existing treatments. This is an achievement that neither existing PPI treatments nor other P-CAB class treatments have been able to demonstrate. Based on these results, Sebela is pursuing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Onconic Therapeutics presented results from a large-scale real-world clinical study of Jaqbo. The study tracked approximately 5,500 GERD patients prescribed 20 mg of Jaqbo tablets for four weeks at about 300 private clinics (primary care institutions) in Korea between 2024 and 2025, analyzing objective treatment outcomes. On a questionnaire evaluating GERD symptoms such as heartburn and acid reflux (0-5 point scale), Jaqbo reduced the average score from 2.07 before administration to 0.44 after four weeks, a decline of 1.63 points, statistically demonstrating symptom improvement.
Notably, a significant score reduction was also confirmed in patients whose symptoms had not improved despite previously taking PPIs or other acid-suppressing drugs. This suggests the potential for Jaqbo to improve symptoms that existing treatments could not resolve in real-world clinical settings.
