[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Chong Kun Dang announced on the 14th that 'Napabeltan,' being developed as a treatment for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), showed a treatment effect 2.9 times higher compared to the standard treatment group.
On the same day, Chong Kun Dang released the results of a Phase 2 clinical trial conducted on about 100 severe COVID-19 patients in Russia.
The clinical results showed that during the administration of Napabeltan, the symptom improvement rate in high-risk patients reached 61.1%, whereas the standard treatment group was only 11.1%. Over the entire 28-day clinical period, the symptom improvement rate in the Napabeltan group reached 94.4%. During the same period, the symptom improvement rate in the standard treatment group was limited to 61.1%.
A Chong Kun Dang official stated, "Symptom improvement in the Napabeltan group over the entire 28-day clinical period was clearly superior, and after adjusting for external variables, we confirmed that the treatment effect was 2.9 times higher than the standard treatment," adding, "Statistical significance was secured."
The recovery period was also reduced by about four days. The recovery period for the Napabeltan group was 10 days, while it was 14 days for the standard treatment group. Additionally, while there were four deaths due to disease worsening in the standard treatment group, no deaths occurred in the Napabeltan group.
A Chong Kun Dang official said, "This provides evidence that Napabeltan has the potential to be a drug that prevents deaths caused by symptom worsening in high-risk patients."
Chong Kun Dang plans to apply for conditional approval of Napabeltan from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety within this month. Separately, they will also apply for a Phase 3 clinical trial to verify the efficacy and safety of Napabeltan in large-scale patient groups both domestically and internationally.
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