Gold Pacific Initiates Clinical Trials for COVID-19 Treatment

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Gold Pacific is accelerating the development of a COVID-19 treatment with more than 50 times the therapeutic efficacy of 'Remdesivir' through a consortium led by Professor Kang Se-chan, head of the Biomedical Research Center at Kyung Hee University. There are no concerns about side effects or dosage limitations of the candidate therapeutic substance, so Phase 1 clinical trials are expected to be completed within this year.

Gold Pacific announced on the 9th that its subsidiary APRG has acquired the COVID-19 treatment candidate substance 'APRG64,' which is in the clinical stage, from Professor Kang Se-chan of Kyung Hee University.

The development team led by Professor Kang plans to start clinical trials in earnest through a consortium composed of companies with raw pharmaceutical ingredient production and finished drug production capabilities, as well as a Contract Research Organization (CRO) that will conduct the clinical trials.

APRG64 is a new drug candidate discovered by Professor Kang Se-chan based on natural products. Professor Kang’s research team began developing APRG64 in May for the treatment of hepatitis C. Based on research results, it was expected to be effective against COVID-19, which is also an RNA virus, and efficacy verification as a treatment was conducted.

Research results indicate that APRG64 has more than 50 times the cell entry blocking and post-infection proliferation inhibition effects compared to Remdesivir, the first COVID-19 treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). APRG64 is capable of both preventing COVID-19 infection and treating it after infection, making it a better candidate therapeutic substance than currently developed treatments. A patent application for APRG64 as a COVID-19 treatment has also been completed.

Overseas pharmaceutical companies are also paying attention to APRG64. Under the support of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, APRG is conducting international joint research on APRG64 with the Precision Medicine Fund in Zhongguancun, known as the Chinese Silicon Valley, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army 302 Hospital. Since APRG64 is based on natural substances, it has received investment proposals from Chinese pharmaceutical companies familiar with traditional herbal materials. International joint clinical trials and technology transfer requests are also ongoing.

A Gold Pacific official stated, "Since the antiviral drug Tamiflu for novel influenza is also based on natural products, if we succeed in developing a treatment based on APRG64, it would be like successfully developing a second Tamiflu." He added, "Its excellent efficacy and preventive effects have attracted significant interest from domestic and international pharmaceutical companies."