3billion Inc. participates in the development of Korean-style ARPA-H rare disease treatments worth 8 billion won

[Financial News] 3billion Inc., an AI-based genetic diagnostics company for rare diseases, is expanding its AI genomic interpretation technology and patient data accumulated through genetic diagnostics into rare disease treatment development.
3billion Inc. announced on the 22nd that it had been selected as a joint research and development institution for the project "Establishment and Demonstration of a Preemptive Development Platform for N-of-Many ASO Therapeutics for Rare Diseases" under the Korean ARPA-H "ARISE" program. The project is led by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), with 3billion Inc. and Asan Medical Center participating as joint research institutions.
This project is a research initiative in the "overcoming unconquered diseases" field of the Korean ARPA-H program, promoted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. Up to 8 billion won in research and development funding will be invested over four years and six months, from July 2026 to December 2030.
The key is to overcome the limitations of the existing "N-of-1" approach and improve the efficiency of rare disease treatment development through the "N-of-many" approach. N-of-1 involves developing a treatment tailored to a single patient. Because the entire process, from preclinical studies to treatment development, must be conducted separately for each patient, it entails a significant burden in terms of time and cost.
N-of-many is an approach that identifies patients with similar genetic causes or mutations in advance and applies a single therapeutic candidate to multiple patients. The research team plans to proactively identify groups of patients with identical or similar genetic mutations, develop therapeutic candidates, and validate them through the preclinical stage.
ASO, the core technology, is a substance that regulates gene expression by binding to specific disease-causing RNA. It can suppress the production of abnormal proteins or induce the production of normal proteins by regulating RNA splicing, and is therefore being used to develop personalized treatments for rare diseases.
3billion Inc. is responsible for analyzing patients' genetic characteristics and symptoms and selecting patient groups eligible for treatment by using rare disease genomic and clinical data together with AI-based genetic variant interpretation technology. It will also identify patients with identical or similar variants dispersed across multiple medical institutions to assess the potential scope and feasibility of the treatment.
Through this project, 3billion Inc. plans to expand the data and medical institution network it has accumulated in the diagnostic field into therapeutic research and development.
"Accurately interpreting genetic variants and identifying patient groups to whom a treatment can be applied are important processes in developing rare disease treatments," said Geum Chang-won, CEO of 3billion Inc. "We will contribute to providing more rare disease patients with treatment opportunities by connecting genomic and clinical data and AI interpretation capabilities to therapeutic research and development."
[email protected] Jeong Sang-hee Reporter