S.Korea's Green Cross seeks phase 2 trials of COVID-19 plasma drug

GC Biopharma

29/07/2020 08:24

By Sangmi Cha
    SEOUL, July 29 (Reuters) - South Korea's Green Cross Corp
 006280.KS  has sought regulatory approval for Phase II trials
of an experimental COVID-19 blood plasma treatment drug, the
company said on Wednesday, sending its shares up nearly 10%.
    Drugmakers worldwide are rushing to develop treatments for
the coronavirus, which has killed more than 650,000 and infected
more than 16 million since first emerging in China late last
year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AY3AS    
    Green Cross said the clinical trial would review the safety
and efficacy of the drug in 60 domestic patients in five
hospitals. 
    The firm, which was allowed to skip phase I trials, said its
therapy would be the country's first to enter phase II for
COVID-19 plasma treatment.
    Its intravenously administered medicine, GC5131A, includes
hyperimmune immunoglobins produced from processed antibodies in
the plasma of recovered coronavirus patients.
    Green Cross has vowed to donate its locally made treatment
to all COVID-19 patients in South Korea, where more than 1,000
recovered patients have come forward to donate plasma.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2E02GI
    In May, it joined several firms working on plasma-based
therapies to develop a treatment for COVID-19 patients.
    The CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance for immunoglobulin therapy
includes Takeda Pharmaceutical  4502.T , Biotest AG  BIOG.DE ,
CSL Behring, and Octapharma Plasma.
    Shares of Green Cross Corp rose nearly 10% to 259,000 won
($216.84) after its announcement. The broader market KOSPI
 .KS11  was up 0.2%.   
    Shares of Green Cross rose as much as 10% after the news but
closed down 2.3%, lagging a rise of 0.3% in the broader market
 .KS11 .
($1=1,194.4200 won)

 (Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Additional reporting by Heekyong
Yang; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 ((Sangmi.Cha@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5646; Reuters
Messaging: sangmi.cha.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))