Celltrion, a leading pharmaceutical firm in South Korea, said on Wednesday that its new antibody treatment showed some promise in treating a mutated version of the new coronavirus in recent tests.

The company said the new drug successfully neutralized the "G614" type of the virus. It was 10 times more effective in treating the G614 type than the original virus, the company said. 

The test was conducted last month by the state-run Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), using G-type coronavirus samples.   

The G-type has recently gone viral in South Korea since the cluster infection in Itaewon, Seoul, in May.

About 70 percent of the infections in the United States and Europe came from the G-type virus, according to the KCDC. 

With positive results from the KCDC's tests, Celltrion is set to begin its clinical tests on humans on July 16. 

If the clinical tests succeed, the company plans to produce 5 million doses of the new treatment within the first half of next year. (Yonhap)