Minister Choi Ki-young: "Encouraging to Find Effective Drugs for COVID-19"

Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young (left) and Commissioner Lee Ui-kyung of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety are attending the Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Junho] Choi Ki-young, Minister of Science and ICT, stated on the 26th that "the cell-level efficacy verification results for drug repurposing of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) have produced good results, which is encouraging."

On the same day, Minister Choi visited the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and, while reviewing the interim results of COVID-19 drug repurposing, said through a closing remark, "I hope that outcomes helpful to the medical field can be produced quickly."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Minister Choi explained the drug repurposing (screening) results from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and the Korea Pasteur Institute.

First, the Korea Pasteur Institute, through drug repurposing research, identified about 20 drugs expected to be effective in treating COVID-19, including ciclesonide, niclosamide, and cepharanthine, and published related papers on bioRxiv. They are currently proceeding with procedures to obtain related patents.

Minister Choi said, "In the case of ciclesonide, an asthma treatment drug, it is considered to have the highest potential for application in the COVID-19 medical field," adding, "There have been reports of patients in Japan who were actually administered the drug and fully recovered, and the Japanese Infectious Diseases Society has initiated an observational study."

He continued, "Niclosamide is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an anthelmintic and is known to have various effects such as anti-inflammatory and atopic dermatitis treatment, but its efficacy in treating COVID-19 is also anticipated."

Furthermore, he stated, "Cepharanthine, used as an adjunct treatment for hair loss, is one of seven drugs selected by the world's most powerful supercomputer from among 8,000 drug candidates," and "The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in the U.S. is conducting efficacy tests for COVID-19 drugs."

Minister Choi added, "Since the Korea Pasteur Institute disclosed the research results, various requests for research cooperation with the institute have been coming from domestic and international universities and companies."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology is conducting cross-verification on drugs whose efficacy was verified by the Korea Pasteur Institute. According to Minister Choi, the Chemical Institute is also verifying drugs currently used in medical practice or in clinical trials, as well as drugs whose efficacy has been reported overseas, and sharing the results with clinicians in the medical field. He urged, "Based on close cooperation between institutions, I hope that outcomes helpful to the medical field can be produced quickly."

Currently, the Ministry of Science and ICT is focusing all efforts on drug repurposing research to find drugs that are effective in treating COVID-19 among those already marketed or in clinical trial stages. The Ministry also allocated 2.15 billion KRW in the supplementary budget confirmed last week for drug repurposing-related expenses.

Minister Choi said, "I attended this event to directly hear explanations of the research results from the experts who actually conducted the research and to exchange opinions on how to utilize the research outcomes with clinicians treating patients in the medical field," adding, "If there are good ideas, methods, or necessary support to repurpose drugs more efficiently in the future, please actively propose them."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.