South Korean drugmaker Daewoong Pharmaceutical has received the highest number of regulatory approvals for carrying out clinical trials of its drugs in 2016, industry data showed Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Daewoong Pharmaceutical obtained the ministry’s approval for 16 clinical studies last year — including 11 phase 1 trials, two phase 2 trials and three phase 3 trials.

This is around twice as many trials the company had applied for in 2015, when it sought approval for seven clinical trials.


Of the phase 1 clinical trials that the drugmaker had obtained approval for, four were for DWJ1366, an antiulcer treatment in development. Another two trials were for expanding the usage range of its self-developed botulinum toxin Nabota.

After Daewoong, Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. received the second-most clinical trial approvals in 2016 with 14. Of these, 11 were categorized as first-phase trials.

Dong-A ST came in third with approvals for eight clinical trials in 2016, followed by Ildong Pharmaceutical, Yuhan Corp. and Green Cross all at seven and LG Life Sciences at six.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)