[Special Stock] United Pharm, Korea's First Inhalation Treatment Confirms Efficacy Against COVID-19 Variants... "Will Contribute to Preventing Resurgence"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Korea United Pharm is showing strong performance. The news that the domestic first inhalation treatment for COVID-19 under development, ‘UI030,’ has demonstrated excellent antiviral effects against the UK-origin variant virus appears to have influenced the stock price.

As of 1:20 PM on the 3rd, United Pharm is trading at 58,900 KRW, up 12.4%.

United Pharm announced on the same day that, in collaboration with the Biosafety Center of Korea University College of Medicine, it conducted cell experiments on the recently prevalent UK-origin variant virus and confirmed excellent antiviral efficacy. They plan to immediately verify antiviral effects against various other variant viruses such as those from South Africa, Brazil, and India. Additionally, they plan to submit a Phase 2 clinical trial Investigational New Drug (IND) application within this month. If the treatment development succeeds, COVID-19 patients are expected to be able to treat the disease easily and affordably at home without hospitalization.

United Pharm continues to conduct efficacy studies on variant viruses even after confirming antiviral effects against the initially prevalent COVID-19 virus.

Last year, United Pharm confirmed that UI030 showed more than 10 times the antiviral effect compared to ciclesonide against the initial COVID-19 virus type, the S group, and subsequently confirmed antiviral effects against the mutated GH and GR groups as well.

The UK-origin variant virus is known to have about 1.7 times higher transmissibility than the original strain. Recently, in cluster infection cases in Ulsan, the UK-origin variant virus has been frequently detected, indicating signs of domestic spread.

A United Pharm official stated, “The main ingredient of UI030, budesonide, was confirmed to be excellent in improving COVID-19 symptoms according to clinical results from Oxford University in the UK.” He added, “Since efficacy has been confirmed against variant viruses as well, it is expected to contribute to preventing the resurgence of COVID-19 once product approval is obtained.” Furthermore, he said, “We have recently successfully completed animal efficacy tests against the COVID-19 virus and are smoothly preparing to submit the Phase 2 IND application within this month.”