Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are rushing to conduct initial clinical trials for the drugs they have developed as they seek to become a leading player in the value-added market, government data showed Wednesday.
Companies are required to obtain an approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to proceed with the first round of clinical trials for their new drugs. The following two stages of clinical tests are also subject to the ministry's approval.
The ministry said it has approved a total of 64 first-stage clinical trials so far this year, up 25 percent from 51 during the same period of last year. Clinical trials are usually conducted on patients to study a particular drug's efficacy, safety and side effects.
"A sharp increase in the number of drug clinical trial approvals indicates local companies' aggressiveness in developing new drugs. But it takes time and high costs for them to bring a new drug to market," an industry official said. (Yonhap)
