GeneOne Life Science’s investigational oral drug for COVID-19 has received regulatory approvals from the European Medicines Agency and Bulgaria to conduct a phase 2 clinical trial in Bulgaria, the Korean biotech firm said Monday.

The Balkan nation is among the five regions where GeneOne Life Science plans to conduct phase 2 studies of GLS-1027. It is also the last of the five to give the company a go-ahead. The four others are the US, South Korea, Puerto Rico and North Macedonia.

GeneOne Life Science plans to confirm GLS-1027’s therapeutic effect on a total of 132 patients infected with COVID-19 and its variants through safety and efficacy tests.

GLS-1027 is being developed as an oral pill that could suppress severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19 infection.

In animal tests, it showed therapeutic effects on pneumonia caused by the coronavirus.

GeneOne Life Science hopes that the drug candidate could also be applied to treat other autoimmune diseases.