Professor Kyung Bo Kim, who received his M.S. from POSTECH and now teaches at University of Kentucky, received attention in the medical area by inventing new anticancer drug for myeloma, a tumor in the bone marrow. Prof . Kim and Prof. Cragi Crews from Yale University co-invented the anticancer drug Kyprolis.
In clinical trials of patients who did not show significant recovery with other drugs, 23.7% of participants showed signs of improvement after receiving injections for 7 to 8 months. In addition, while the other drugs have side effects such as disorder at the peripheral nervous system, Kyprolis has fewer side effects despite long internal use. Kyprolis is approved by FDA in U.S. and has been sold in the market since last July. In a survey, thirty-four percent of doctors answered that they will use Kyprolis from 2013 right away. Fifty percent of doctors plan to use it if no reaction occurs with original anticancer drugs. This shows that the effect of the drug is recognized by many doctors. Both medical professionals and patients have high expectations for Kyprolis.