Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Monday it will carry out phase 1 clinical trials of its COVID-19 stem cell therapy in Indonesia.

Its Indonesian arm Daewoong Infion has been conducting research for the efficacy of the pipeline DWP710 (mesenchymal stem cell) for treating the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, jointly with the Indonesian Health Ministry.

In the animal tests, Daewoong Infion was able to confirm DWP710’s antiviral effects and the increased rate of survival in animals showing accute respiratory disease syndrome who were treated with the pipeline.

The DWP710 was used on animal models infected with lipopolysaccharide, an inflammation-inducing substance.

Compared with the placebo group, the test group given DWP710 had 30 percent increase in survival rate, while demonstrating close to full-recovery of lung tissue, Daewoong said.

After the conclusion of phase 1 trials on human patients in Indonesia, they will carry out phase 2 clinical trials in Korea within 2020.

According to Korea’s revised bio law, the health authorities can give conditional approval for drugs that have passed phase 2 clinical trials to expedite their use at hospitals fighting COVID-19.

In Korea, Daewoong has pending clinical phase 1 trials for niclosamide, an antiviral reportedly more potent than remdesivir.

Daewoong Therapeutics, the research and development subsidiary of Daewoong Pharmaceutical is responsible for the niclosamide research while the parent company Daewoong will jointly carry out the clinical trials.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)