South Korea's Daewoong Pharma gets approval for Phase 1 trials of COVID-19 anti-parasite drug

Sangmi Cha
·1 min read
An illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), depicts the 2019 Novel Coronavirus

By Sangmi Cha

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean drugmaker Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said on Monday that it had received regulatory approval for Phase 1 clinical trials of its anti-parasitic niclosamide drug to treat COVID-19 patients.

The approval comes after the company in August received Indian regulatory approval to test the drug in Phase 1 trials.

The company confirmed the safety of the drug in its latest study in partnership with New Delhi-based Mankind Pharma Ltd, Daewoong said in a statement.

In September, Daewoong separately launched another overseas human trial of the drug in the Philippians.

Daewoong plans to seek conditional approval for its anti-viral drug, DWRX2003, for emergency use after securing the results from a second-stage clinical study, the company said.

Daewoong had said its anti-viral drug had completely eliminated the novel coronavirus from animals' lungs during pre-clinical testing.

(Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Stephen Coates)