Acceleration of COVID-19 Treatment Development Triggered by Introduction of 'Remdesivir'

Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo is visiting GC Green Cross in Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, which is developing a plasma treatment for COVID-19, on the afternoon of the 13th to inspect the research facilities. Source=Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] With the introduction of the first official treatment for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Korea, the Ebola treatment drug 'Remdesivir,' the development of domestic treatments is expected to accelerate.

According to the medical community on the 29th, the Central Clinical Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases, which includes primary doctors of confirmed COVID-19 patients in Korea, reportedly recommended the quarantine authorities yesterday to grant emergency use approval and special import permission for Remdesivir.

Remdesivir is an antiviral drug developed by Gilead Sciences as an Ebola treatment. Although it was not approved as an Ebola treatment, it has been authorized for emergency use in the United States for patients with severe or worse COVID-19. Results from an international clinical trial led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed that it reduced the recovery time of severe or worse patients by about 31%, from 15 days to 11 days.

As Remdesivir is increasingly recognized worldwide as a standard treatment for COVID-19, domestic treatment development is also in full swing. GC Green Cross plans to start human clinical trials of the plasma treatment 'GC5131A' in July, aiming to launch the product in the second half of this year. GC5131A is a treatment made by extracting various immune antibodies from the plasma of recovered COVID-19 patients.

GC Green Cross is the final task performer selected by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the development of COVID-19 plasma treatments. The quarantine authorities have secured 10 plasma donors so far. Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said yesterday, "Plasma treatment uses concentrated and formulated antibodies and immunoglobulins contained in the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients, so a large amount of blood is needed," and requested blood donations from recovered patients.

Celltrion is fully committed to developing antibody treatments. Targeting human clinical trials in July, Celltrion recently selected 38 final antibody candidates and has begun full-scale cell line development. Seo Jung-jin, Chairman of Celltrion, recently stated on a broadcast program, "Phase 3 clinical trials cost about 300 billion KRW, but we will not seek profit from developing the treatment."

Il-Yang Pharm has received approval for a Phase 3 clinical trial in Russia to verify the COVID-19 treatment efficacy of the leukemia drug 'Suppect.' Suppect is the 18th domestic new drug independently developed by Il-Yang Pharm, and this is the first time a domestic new drug has been approved for clinical trials overseas as a COVID-19 treatment.