Daewoong Pharmaceutical "Hoistar Tablets Confirmed Effective in COVID-19 Treatment"

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on the 23rd that 'Hoistar Tablets' (active ingredient: Camostat Mesylate), being developed as a treatment for COVID-19, removes the virus faster than a placebo.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical disclosed the top-line results of the Phase 2a clinical trial on the same day. Hoistar Tablets are prescription drugs used for chronic pancreatitis and other conditions.

This clinical trial was conducted on 89 patients hospitalized with mild COVID-19 or asymptomatic confirmed cases.

Professor Oh Myung-don’s infectious disease team at Seoul National University divided 81 patients, excluding dropouts, into the Hoistar group with 41 patients (average age 55) and the placebo group with 40 patients (average age 43) to evaluate clinical efficacy and safety.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical stated, "The speed at which the virus was eliminated tended to be faster in the Hoistar group than in the placebo group." The mechanism of action of Hoistar Tablets does not directly kill the virus but blocks the virus from entering cells.

The time taken for patients' clinical symptoms to improve was also faster in the Hoistar group according to analyses of the ordinal scale and NEWS score.

On the 17th, Daewoong Pharmaceutical received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to combine Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials for Hoistar Tablets. Accordingly, a clinical trial involving 1,000 mild patients has commenced.

Jeon Seung-ho, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, stated, "We will quickly derive the same results in a large-scale patient group and secure Phase 3 clinical trial results by the first half of next year."

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