Daewoong Pharmaceutical Niclosamide Selected for Government Project Supporting COVID-19 Treatment Production

Support of Approximately 1.95 Billion KRW Over One Year... Mass Production Within the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on the 5th that 'DWRX2003' (active ingredient Niclosamide) has been finally selected as a project for support in establishing production equipment for COVID-19 therapeutics by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute.

This selection is based on support from the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Therapeutics and Vaccine Production Equipment Establishment Support Project Group (KIMCo). Daewoong Pharmaceutical will receive approximately 1.95 billion KRW in support over one year and plans to mass-produce DWRX2003 within this year.

Niclosamide, being developed as a COVID-19 therapeutic jointly by Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Daewoong Therapeutics, has demonstrated effects such as virus elimination, cytokine storm inhibition, and improvement of respiratory distress in various animal models through multiple animal experiments.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical is conducting Phase 1 clinical trials of Niclosamide in Korea, Australia, and India. The goal is to secure global Phase 2 clinical trial results for mild to moderate patients within the first half of this year and to obtain conditional approval and emergency use authorization sequentially both domestically and internationally starting in the second half. A global Phase 2 clinical trial targeting patients with moderate or higher severity is also planned.

In particular, Niclosamide’s virus elimination action utilizes SKP2 inhibition, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical expects that virus elimination will be possible regardless of mutations of the COVID-19 virus, which have recently become an issue, considering the mechanism of action. Furthermore, Daewoong Pharmaceutical plans to develop Niclosamide as a global antiviral therapeutic for infections including influenza and dengue virus, leveraging its mechanisms of virus eradication and inflammation suppression beyond COVID-19.

Jeon Seung-ho, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, stated, “With the final selection of this government project for establishing therapeutic production equipment, we can complete ongoing clinical trials domestically and internationally and ensure smooth supply of the therapeutic.” He added, “We will mobilize all company capabilities to secure a stable supply chain of therapeutics aiming to end the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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