[Featured Stock] 'COVID-19' Starting from the Throat... United Pharm Highlights Inhalation Treatment

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] United Pharm is showing strong performance. This appears to be influenced by the announcement of research findings that COVID-19 starts from the nose.

As of 10:06 AM on the 2nd, United Pharm was trading at 57,500 KRW, up 4.17% (2,300 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.

On the same day, the research team led by Kyu-Young Ko, head of the Vascular Research Division at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), and Professor Chang-Seop Lee of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Jeonbuk National University announced that they have captured the moment of COVID-19 virus replication for the first time and confirmed that the primary target of early infection is the nasal ciliated epithelial cells.

Until now, the mechanism of COVID-19 infection was unclear because most COVID-19 patients had already completed the primary viral infection at the time of diagnosis.

The research team revealed that nasal ciliated cells are the starting point of coronavirus infection by using specimens obtained from patients with mild early-stage COVID-19. This analysis utilized immunofluorescence staining and the latest single-cell gene expression measurement techniques.

The analysis showed that the ACE2 receptor protein was densely distributed at the very tip of the nasal ciliated cells, the part exposed to air. This means that the COVID-19 virus binds to the air-contacting surface of the ciliated cells, penetrates into the cells, and then proliferates. Infection did not occur in nasal secretory cells or oral epithelial cells that lack the ACE2 receptor protein.

United Pharm announced the day before that its inhalation-type COVID-19 treatment production plant received Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) approval from the Daejeon Regional Food and Drug Administration (hereafter Daejeon FDA).

Korea United Pharm is now able to start production as soon as it completes the development of its COVID-19 treatment candidate currently undergoing clinical trials.

Additionally, on the 29th of last month, Kim Hyun-jung, head of the Daejeon FDA, along with Go Yong-seok, director of the Medical Products Inspection Division, and Park Jong-pil, director of the Medical Product Safety Division, visited Korea United Pharm’s Sejong Plant 2, where the inhalation treatment production facilities are located.

The Daejeon FDA officials gathered the company’s opinions on COVID-19 treatment development and inspected the inhalation and new anticancer drug production facilities to check the necessary support measures.

Korea United Pharm has automated the entire production process from inhaler device and inhalation formulation manufacturing to packaging. It can produce up to 8,000 inhalers per day.

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