No. 1’Made in Korea’ Corona treatment… Celltrion and Daewoong Pharmaceutical, who will be faster?

Input 2020.12.23 06:00 | Revision 2020.12.23 06:43

Celltrion·Daewoong Pharmaceutical Announce Results of Phase 2 Clinical Trial during this month
As early as next January, it is likely to release a domestic COVID-19 treatment.

Celltrion and Daewoong Pharmaceutical will announce the results of phase 2 clinical trials for COVID-19 treatment during this month. As all of them are aiming to launch a therapeutic agent in January next year, attention is being drawn to which companies will succeed in developing the first domestic COVID-19 treatment. In foreign countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, questions about the need for a treatment are raised as global pharmaceutical companies begin vaccination against Corona 19, but the prospect that the vaccine and treatment will coexist like the flu is predominant.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 23rd, only two of the substances being developed as a treatment for Corona 19 in Korea have completed the recruitment of patients for phase 2 clinical trials: Celltrion’s CT-P59 and Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s DW1248 (Camostat). As of this day, there are a total of 11 COVID-19 treatments undergoing phase 2 clinical trials in Korea.

Celltrion and Daewoong Pharmaceutical recruited clinical patients for COVID-19 treatment at a faster rate compared to other pharmaceutical companies. Daewoong Pharmaceutical finished in November after receiving approval for a phase 2 clinical trial for a COVID-19 treatment from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on July 6th. Celltrion was approved on Sept. 17 and ended in Nov. Considering that some companies have difficulty in recruiting additional subjects after it takes up to three months to recruit the first subjects after approval of the clinical trial, the recruitment speed of the two companies is very fast.

This is because it has secured the largest number of medical institutions to conduct clinical trials in Korea. According to the National Clinical Trial Support Foundation, Celltrion has conducted phase 2 clinical trials for COVID-19 treatment in 18 hospitals nationwide and 13 Daewoong Pharmaceuticals in Korea. Other companies are conducting clinical trials in around 10 hospitals.

An official from a domestic vaccine development company said, “Securing clinical trial institutions such as university hospitals is the same as a company’s competency,” and said, “Securing highly recognized professors in large hospitals can be advantageous for clinical trials as there are so many patients.” Said.

Celltrion and Daewoong Pharmaceutical, which have completed recruiting patients for phase 2 clinical trials, are scheduled to announce the results of phase 2 clinical trials for COVID-19 treatment within this month. Daewoong Pharmaceutical is scheduled to release the results as early as the 23rd, and Celltrion Chairman Seo Jeong-jin has revealed several times a plan to “apply for emergency use approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety when clinical results are available within the year.” Daewoong Pharmaceutical also plans to go through the process of applying for conditional approval when obtaining the results of phase 2 clinical trials and meaningful data.

If Celltrion and Daewoong Pharmaceuticals plan, the timing of supplying COVID-19 treatments is likely to overlap. Daewoong Pharmaceutical aims to release DW1248 in January next year. Celltrion may become available in January of next year, assuming that the application for emergency use is made within the year as planned by Chairman Seo. It is reported that the approval for emergency use is decided by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the approval has been decided within 40 days.

Some people question whether a treatment is really needed at the time when the inoculation of the Corona 19 vaccine, which was already developed by global pharmaceutical companies, started. An industry insider said, “There are vaccines for flu vaccines and treatments called Tamiflu,” and said, “Pharmaceutical companies are preparing for the corona 19 virus because it can be divided into such areas.” According to the National Institutes of Health, there were only 22 pharmaceutical companies undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of Corona 19 in March, but it increased every month to 530 as of December 15.