Daewoong Pharmaceutical Receives Approval for Phase 1 Clinical Trial of COVID-19 Stem Cell Therapy in Indonesia

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on the 6th that it has received approval for Phase 1 clinical trials in Indonesia for 'DWP710,' a treatment for respiratory symptoms of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) using mesenchymal stem cells.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical's stem cell therapy DWP710 showed more than a 30% increase in survival rate compared to the control group in an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) animal model induced by the inflammatory agent LPS, and the lung tissue damaged by the inflammatory response recovered to a level close to that of the normal group.

In efficacy experiments using animal models infected with the coronavirus, not only anti-inflammatory effects but also antiviral effects were confirmed, such as the viral count in the infected lung tissue decreasing to below the detection limit.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical is conducting clinical trials in Indonesia together with its joint venture Daewoong Infion. Daewoong Infion signed an MOU with the Indonesian Ministry of Health and Welfare and is conducting clinical trials of DWP710. Based on the results of the Phase 1 clinical trial in Indonesia, Phase 2 clinical trials are planned to be conducted in Korea within this year.

Jeon Seung-ho, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, stated, “Since the drug is expected to be effective for patients with respiratory distress infected with COVID-19, we will accelerate development to enable rapid commercialization.”

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