Celltrion's COVID-19 treatment candidate shows positive results in animal testing
By Kim Han-joo
SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korean biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc. announced Monday that positive results were shown for its treatment for the novel coronavirus in animal testing.
The company said its antiviral antibody treatment showed a 100-fold reduction in the viral load of SARS-CoV-2, the virus known to be causing COVID-19, in an animal model.
Celltrion also said the treatment candidate showed improvement in lung lesions to a normal activity level in animals.
The antiviral activity at the pre-clinical stage indicates that the candidate could be a potential treatment for COVID-19 if the results are replicated in clinical trials for humans, according to officials.
"Celltrion hopes to commence first-in-human clinical trials in July and has the capability to roll out mass production of the therapeutic antibody treatment once it is ready," Kwon Ki-Sung, head of the R&D unit at Celltrion, said in a press release.
A number of local pharmaceutical companies have joined the global race to develop a vaccine and treatment for COVID-19, but none of them yet have received approval for clinical trials for vaccine or treatment candidates from the country's drug safety agency.
The country reported 35 more cases of COVID-19 due mainly to infections tied to a logistics center in a city just west of Seoul, raising the total caseload to 11,503, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
khj@yna.co.kr
(END)
-
Ateez to drop new Japanese EP next week
-
Gov't to significantly increase international flights to meet travel demand
-
(2nd LD) BTS wins three Billboard Music Awards, marking 6th year to win an award
-
Crypto investor probed over allegedly visiting house of Terraform's CEO
-
(2nd LD) N. Korea still unresponsive to S. Korea's outreach for talks on COVID-19: official
-
S. Korea to send condolence delegation to UAE over death of president
-
(LEAD) N. Korea confirms first case of omicron variant of COVID-19: state media
-
Seoul's daily subway ridership hits pandemic-era high on eased restrictions
-
(5th LD) N.K. leader, wearing mask, chairs meeting on omicron outbreak
-
(URGENT) N. Korea says fever symptoms reported among more than 18,000 people Thursday alone amid COVID-19 outbreak
-
(LEAD) S. Korea looks into cryptocurrency market following TerraUSD, Luna crash
-
U.S. Forces Korea launches permanent Apache helicopter unit
-
S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases above 30,000 for 2nd day amid omicron slowdown
-
Yoon, PPP lawmakers travel to Gwangju en masse to commemorate 1980 democracy uprising
-
U.S. concerned about COVID outbreak in N. Korea, no delay in nuclear test expected: State Dept.