Hyundai Bio: "Main Ingredient of COVID Oral Drug 'Niclosamide' Shows Strong Efficacy Against Omicron"

National Institute of Health Research Cell Experiment Results Released
One-Quarter Dosage Against COVID-19 Still Shows 'IC50 Efficacy'
"7 Times More Effective Compared to Remdesivir"
Host Cell Targeted... Effective at Low Concentrations

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Niclosamide, considered one of the promising candidate substances for COVID-19 treatment, demonstrated superior efficacy against the Omicron variant compared to existing antiviral drugs at the cell experiment stage, according to research results from a government research institute.

On the 27th, according to Hyundai Bioscience, the National Institute of Health under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency recently analyzed the antiviral efficacy and cytotoxicity of niclosamide, the main ingredient of Hyundai Bioscience's oral COVID-19 treatment candidate 'CP-COV03,' against the COVID-19 virus through cell experiments.

The experiment results showed that the blood effective drug concentration (IC50) that inhibits virus proliferation by more than 50% was 1.75 micromolar (μM) for COVID-19, whereas it was only 0.46 μM for Omicron, which is just one-quarter of the former. IC50 is a method to measure the effect of a substance that inhibits a specific biological or biochemical function; a lower value means that inhibition is possible with less drug. The IC50 value of niclosamide against Omicron is one-seventh of the IC50 value of remdesivir, which has been used as the first treatment drug, at 3.16μM.

Hyundai Bioscience stated, "The efficacy of CP-COV03 is interpreted to be four times safer and more effective against Omicron compared to the existing COVID-19." The company explained that this is because, unlike existing 'virus-oriented' antiviral drugs that target the virus, CP-COV03 has a 'host-oriented' mechanism targeting the host cells. In fact, in this experiment, remdesivir, a 'virus-oriented' treatment, showed an IC50 value of 3.19 against COVID-19, with no significant difference in efficacy against Omicron.

A Hyundai Bioscience official said, "CP-COV03 is a drug developed as a host-oriented antiviral that focuses its efficacy on the host cells of the virus, keeping mutations in mind from the beginning, unlike existing antiviral drugs that target the virus," and added, "The most significant meaning of this experiment is that CP-COV03 has been proven to exhibit strong efficacy not only against COVID-19 but also against variants such as Omicron."

He continued, "By demonstrating antiviral efficacy at IC50 against Omicron even at significantly reduced drug concentrations, niclosamide has proven to be a safe drug," and added, "It has been confirmed that CP-COV03 is a drug that can treat COVID-19 and its variants much more safely and effectively than other virus-oriented antiviral drugs."

Hyundai Bioscience developed CP-COV03, an oral COVID-19 drug with niclosamide as the main ingredient, and applied for phase 2 clinical trials to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 21st. Niclosamide, launched by Bayer in 1959 as an anthelmintic, has a mechanism that activates 'autophagy' to remove viruses when the virus penetrates cells, making it a candidate antiviral drug for COVID-19.

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