[Featured Stock] Hyundai Bio's COVID-19 Treatment Strong Against Omicron and Delta... 2.1x Increased Efficacy When Combined

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Hyundai Bio is showing strong performance. The expectation that the world's first treatment for severe COVID-19 patients, for which there is currently no suitable therapy, could be developed in South Korea appears to be influencing the stock price.

As of 9:42 a.m. on the 15th, Hyundai Bio is trading at 27,750 KRW, up 8.61% from the previous day.

On the 7th, Hyundai Bioscience announced that in an efficacy test commissioned to the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and ICT, conducted on COVID-19 infected hamsters, the therapeutic effect of the oral COVID-19 treatment 'CP-COV03' combined with the anti-inflammatory drug 'Dexamethasone' administered orally was 2.1 times higher than that of Dexamethasone alone.

Hyundai Bio, which began developing COVID-19 treatments last year, developed CP-COV03 from the start with the virus mutations in mind to overcome the disadvantages of being a latecomer. To resolve the COVID-19 crisis triggered by a highly mutating RNA virus, a paradigm shift beyond conventional approaches and pharmaceutical industry practices was necessary. Hyundai Bio is developing an oral host-directed antiviral drug that acts on host cells rather than the virus by modifying existing drugs. Niclosamide was selected as the final candidate. CP-COV03 was developed using advanced drug delivery system (DDS) technology.

The main ingredient of CP-COV03, niclosamide, unlike several major antiviral drugs that target the virus, has a mechanism targeting host cells, so it is expected to exert antiviral efficacy regardless of mutations in COVID-19 viruses such as Omicron and Delta, according to Hyundai Bio.

Dr. Kyung-il Kim, CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of Hyundai Bio, explained, "The antiviral drugs for COVID-19 being developed by major global pharmaceutical companies focus on virus-targeted mechanisms, which have limitations in responding to viral mutations. CP-COV03 activates cellular autophagy to eliminate viruses that have penetrated cells, thus demonstrating efficacy regardless of mutations."

Dr. Geun-woo Jin of Hyundai Bio, who attended the briefing, stated, "According to studies by four European universities including Sweden and the Korea Pasteur Institute, among 43 broad-spectrum antiviral candidates, niclosamide has shown the most effectiveness. It has also been produced as an antiparasitic drug so far, which is advantageous for future mass production."

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