SUMMARY
CP-COV03, a niclosamide-based oral antiviral drug, to cure COVID-19 variants
CP-COV03 is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug candidate, developed by Hyundai Bioscience to treat COVID-19. Its active pharmaceutical ingredient is niclosamide, an anthelmintic drug, and is expected to work on various viral diseases including COVID-19 and its mutations as well as influenza.
CP-COV03 was originally developed with the advanced drug delivery system (DDS) technology by CNPharm, a major shareholder of Hyundai Bioscience. It is a 'host-directed' drug that focuses on the host cell, unlike existing vaccines and antiviral drugs that target the virus. Niclosamide received international attention after COVID-19 broke out, since its efficacy against mutations of COVID-19 has been proven through multiple researches.
Hyundai Bioscience, emphasizing on multi-target capability of niclosamide that may cure COVID-19 variants, plans to expand the use of CP-COV03 to treat even other viral diseases such as the flu.
If successfully approved, CP-COV03 is expected to be a game-changer drug in the war against virus of the century as it is inexpensive and easy to mass-produce. It can be administered to patients with dual or multiple viral diseases such as COVID-19 and influenza at an affordable price.
An antiviral drug to be combined with dexamethasone is finally found
An oral antiviral drug that may substitute remdesivir
CP-COV03 raises efficacy up 2.1 times when combined with dexamethasone
SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Experimental results have been published for the first time showing that an antiviral drug containing niclosamide, an anthelmintic, in combination with dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug, produces a 'synergistic effect' for severe COVID-19 patients. There is a growing possibility that a combination therapy for severe COVID-19 patients, for which there is currently no suitable treatment, may be developed for the first time in Korea.
Hyundai Bioscience (KOSDAQ symbol 048410) recently conducted an efficacy testing at KRIBB (Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology) on COVID-19-infected hamsters. It was announced on December 7th that as a result of oral administration of CP-COV03, an oral treatment for COVID-19, combined with dexamethasone, the therapeutic effect was found to be 2.1 times higher than that of dexamethasone alone.
At a press conference held at the Korea Press Center on the 7th, Hyundai Bioscience announced the results of these experiments and decided to provide related data to the medical community. This is the first study result that confirmed the synergistic effect of an oral antiviral drug with dexamethasone as COVID-19 combo treatment.
Dexamethasone, a steroid drug, is prescribed for patients with severe cases of COVID-19, and was administered together with remdesivir to former US President Donald Trump when he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
If the niclosamide-based CP-COV03 is approved for emergency use in the clinical stage, this combination therapy may be applicable to severe-case patients. It may help reduce the number of severe-case patients and death rates, and then consequently solving the shortage crisis of hospital beds.
Currently, there are virtually no effective antiviral drugs for severe COVID-19 patients. As a temporary measure, doctors are prescribing a limited number of drugs such as remdesivir, the only approved antiviral agent for COVID-19, and Dexamethasone. However remdesivir's efficacy was questioned by WHO, and COVID mutation due to drug resistance was reported from Yale University research [1].
In the meantime, medical and scientific communities have been raising voices for the need to find an antiviral drug that will best combine with Dexamethasone, which is known to weaken immunity, in order to safely and effectively treat severe COVID-19 patients.
In June 2020, Dr. Martin Landray of Oxford University emphasized, "Dexamethasone is a 'good first step' to finding a cocktail of drugs that ...
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