[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Korea Pharma is showing strong performance. Interest in ‘Fenofibrate,’ which has an effect on suppressing COVID-19 infection, appears to be influencing the stock price. As voices calling for a reassessment of COVID-19 social distancing-centered quarantine policies grow louder, expectations for a transition to 'With COVID' are gaining momentum. Korea Pharma holds 'Fenocorin,' which adds choline salt to fenofibric acid, the active form of fenofibrate, a treatment for dyslipidemia. 'Fenocorin' is a capsule formulation containing mini tablets identical to the original domestic formulation and is produced in-house by Korea Pharma.
As of 2:14 PM on the 31st, Korea Pharma was trading at 71,500 KRW, up 8.99% (5,900 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.
The latest issue of the international pharmacology journal Advanced Pharmacology published a paper by a joint research team from the University of Birmingham and Keele University in the UK, the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Italy, and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. The team screened FDA-approved drugs for those with COVID-19 virus infection suppression effects and found the outstanding efficacy of fenofibrate.
According to the research results, fenofibrate and its active form fenofibric acid reduced COVID-19 virus infection by up to 70% in vitro experiments. The same effect was observed in experiments with the Alpha and Beta variant viruses, and the effect on the Delta variant is currently under study and verification.
According to major foreign media, Israeli researchers announced that the dyslipidemia treatment drug fenofibrate showed therapeutic effects in severe COVID-19 patients. On the 18th, the University of Birmingham, Keele University, and the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Italy also announced that fenofibrate reduced coronavirus infection by up to 70%, suggesting fenofibrate’s potential as a COVID-19 treatment. The research team administered 145 mg of fenofibrate to a patient group for 10 days and monitored the progress. As a result, the team confirmed that no inflammation occurred in patients within 48 hours of administration. Subsequently, 14 out of 15 patients (93.3%) discontinued oxygen therapy within 7 days of administration. The remaining 1 patient (6.7%) stopped oxygen therapy within 10 days of administration. All of them continued self-treatment at home for 10 days after discharge.
Meanwhile, Korea BNC’s market capitalization surpassed 1.6 trillion KRW amid growing expectations for the effects of antroquinonol.
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