[Featured Stock] JW Jungwoo Pharmaceutical Rises on News of COVID-19 Treatment Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] JW Pharmaceutical is rising on news that it has embarked on the development of a treatment for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) using a drug repositioning strategy.

On the 23rd at 11 a.m. in the KOSPI market, JW Pharmaceutical was traded at 41,000 KRW, up 14% from the previous session. At the same time, JW Pharmaceutical Preferred Shares rose 26%, JW Pharmaceutical 2nd Preferred Shares B rose 29%, JW Holdings rose 4%, and JW Life Science rose 3%.

JW Pharmaceutical recently announced that it has filed a patent application for the Wnt-targeting anticancer agent ‘CWP291’ as a composition for COVID-19 treatment. According to the company, research results showed that CWP291 exhibited about four times higher antiviral activity compared to ‘Remdesivir’ (an Ebola treatment drug), which was recently approved as a COVID-19 treatment, as well as the malaria treatment drug ‘Hydroxychloroquine’ and the AIDS treatment drug ‘Lopinavir’.