[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] While the domestic stock market is plunging, Kookdong's stock price is showing strength. The news confirming the COVID-19 treatment efficacy of ‘CT101’ appears to have influenced the stock price.
As of 2:38 PM on the 28th, Kookdong is trading at 3,290 KRW, up 24.39% from the previous day.
Kookdong announced that it confirmed the COVID-19 treatment efficacy of ‘CT101’ through recent efficacy tests in animal models. ‘CT101’ is a substance under development as a treatment for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The company explained that this was in response to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s supplementary requirement for ‘submission of in vivo efficacy test data’ during the Phase 2 clinical trial application process. The tests were conducted at the Agency for Defense Development through the ‘Government-wide Task Force for COVID-19 Therapeutics Development’ led by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
Hamsters were infected with the COVID-19 virus, and then the inflammation levels in the lungs infected with COVID-19 were compared after treatment with CT101. As a result, the group treated with CT101 showed about a 50% reduction in lung damage compared to the untreated group.
According to Kookdong’s Bio Business Division, in addition to the hamster efficacy test using the COVID-19 virus, a mouse efficacy test using the influenza virus was also conducted. All mice infected with the virus died, but those treated with Kookdong’s ‘CT101’ did not die and recovered similarly to the healthy control group.
Interest in treatments for variant COVID-19 and other therapeutics continues steadily. ‘CT101’ has long been established as a safe anti-inflammatory agent, including for arthritis treatment, with experience in elderly and pediatric patients. If successfully developed, it is expected to be positioned as a treatment for various age groups.
Oh Chang-gyu, CEO of Kookdong, stated, "We have been actively preparing to prove the supplementary requests from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety during the last CT101 clinical application. Although the schedule was delayed compared to the plan due to the process of conducting research with reliable institutions and designing the study, we were able to achieve positive results by doing our best to develop a COVID-19 treatment."
Kookdong has prepared the clinical trial protocol (P2a) based on the results obtained this time and has also submitted a response to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety regarding the supplementation for the Phase 2 COVID-19 clinical trial.
Meanwhile, Kookdong’s Bio Business Division signed a tripartite agreement last September with Humap and Celtroy for joint research and clinical development of biopharmaceuticals. Humap is developing a human antibody transgenic mouse platform based on genome engineering core technology and is collaborating on joint research and development using gene recombination technology and know-how. Celtroy is developing a tissue-specific drug delivery platform and is applying its original patent on cell-penetrating peptides to joint research for new drug development.
Earlier this year, Kookdong signed a joint development and technology transfer agreement for inflammatory immune therapy new drugs with Celtroy. Going forward, Kookdong plans to commercialize therapeutics using the improved drugs developed by Celtroy, and alongside this, Kookdong is achieving results such as applying for Phase 2 clinical trials of the COVID-19 treatment ‘CT101’ jointly developed with Celtroy and filing patents for COVID-19 spatial diagnostic technology.
CEO Oh recently stated in an interview with an IB specialized media, "We intend to merge Kookdong and Celtroy by meeting legal and accounting requirements. If an appropriate merger method is derived in the second half of this year, the merger could be possible next year."
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