Daewoong Pharmaceutical confirms effect of niclosamide on influenza following COVID-19

Daewoong Pharmaceutical confirms effect of niclosamide on influenza following COVID-19 - Began R&D amid mounting concerns about co-infections of COVID-19 and influenza - Suppressed deaths 100% and improved clinical symptoms 75% compared to the control group in an animal efficacy study - Smoothly conducting a COVID-19 phase-1 clinical trial in India and the Philippines, accelerating clinical research around the world Daewoong Pharmaceutical (Daewoong) (CEO Sengho Jeon) announced on September 29 that the company confirmed the effect of DWRX2003 (active ingredient: niclosamide), which is being developed as a drug to treat COVID-19, on reducing mortalities caused by influenza in an animal efficacy study. This animal study was conducted as co-infections of COVID-19 and influenza were recently reported in Korea and concerns over “twindemic” were mounting around the world. For viral infections, which lead to deaths, mortalities are considered a primary factor, and Daewoong confirmed the drug’s effect on reducing mortalities caused by influenza in this animal study. Daewoong administered a single dose of niclosamide or placebo to mice infected with influenza and observed their clinical symptoms for two weeks. As a result, the mortality rate was confirmed as 40% in the control group and 0% in the niclosamide group. Furthermore, the clinical symptom score confirmed an extraordinary 75% improvement compared to the control group on day 2 of drug administration. In particular, when administered on day 7 after infection, it was confirmed that niclosamide’s mortality rate was low: 40% in the control group vs. 0% in the niclosamide group. As it is recommended to administer currently marketed influenza drugs within 2 days after infection, this drug is expected to produce the effect in patients who administer it after two days. DWRX2003’s active ingredient niclosamide has a mechanism of action where it neutralizes the acidic environment where a virus can proliferate in cells, prevents the virus from invading host cells, and thereby suppresses its proliferation. DWRX2003 is a product developed as a sustained release injection of niclosamide based on Daewoong Group’s original drug delivery system. It can sustain the effective concentration for two weeks or more with a single dose alone when used to treat a viral infection, and it is expected to be used as not just single therapy but also concomitant therapy for refractory viral diseases. CEO Sengho Jeon at Daewoong said, “At a time when the world focuses on treating and preventing COVID-19, we are pleased to announce pre-clinical results that niclosamide produces the effect on both COVID-19 and influenza. Given that DWRX2003 has extensive antiviral activity and high needs from healthcare professionals in the department of infectious diseases, we will complete our phase-1 clinical trial as soon as possible and accelerate phase-2 and phase-3 clinical trials for single and concomitant therapy.” CEO Minsuk Lee at Daewoong Therapeutics said, “It is encouraging to expand the applicability of DWRX2003 to influenza following COVID-19. As appropriate treatment may vary depending on the virial infection, we will focus more on DWRX2003 research.” # # #

The release as fetched from its publisher. daewoong.co.kr ↗