Ildong Pharmaceutical Completes Recruitment of Domestic Patients for COVID-19 Treatment Clinical Trial

Japan's Shionogi and Jointly Developed 'S-217622'

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Ildong Pharmaceutical announced on the 26th that it has completed the recruitment of domestic clinical trial patients for the COVID-19 treatment drug ‘S-217622’, which is being jointly developed with Japan's Shionogi Pharmaceutical.

In November last year, Ildong Pharmaceutical signed an agreement with Shionogi for the joint development of S-217622 and has been conducting Phase 2b and 3 clinical trials in South Korea since early this year, starting with the first patient registration and dosing. The originally planned 200 participants have all been recruited, and for the previously enrolled subjects, sequential dosing, monitoring, and result analysis are also underway.

Ildong Pharmaceutical is closely monitoring the situation in Japan, where conditional approval is currently being prepared alongside the clinical progress. If early or emergency use approval for S-217622 is granted in Japan, the company plans to proceed with domestic approval, distribution preparation, and other related tasks based on that approval and the clinical data accumulated so far.

Shionogi recently disclosed the interim results of the global Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of S-217622 at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). According to the data, on the 4th day of S-217622 administration, the proportion of patients with positive viral titers decreased by 90% compared to the placebo group, confirming the drug’s viral suppression effect in the body.

S-217622 works by inhibiting the coronavirus-specific protease enzyme called '3CL-protease', thereby blocking viral replication. This mechanism is similar to Pfizer’s 'Paxlovid'. Because it targets the enzyme rather than the spike protein, where coronavirus mutations are concentrated, it can suppress the virus regardless of mutations.

The drug also offers high dosing convenience. Paxlovid and MSD (Merck, USA)’s 'Lagevrio' require taking 3 pills twice daily (total 30 pills) and 4 pills twice daily (total 40 pills), respectively, for 5 days. In contrast, S-217622 is currently being tested with a once-daily dosing regimen for 5 days. Additionally, it is expected to have far fewer contraindicated concomitant medications, which have been the biggest obstacle to expanding prescriptions of existing drugs.

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