Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Celltrion, a South Korean bio firm, has been selected as preferred bidder in a state project to develop a medicine for the treatment of patients infected with a new coronavirus. South Korean scientists have developed a "unique" protein that detects antibodies to neutralize the virus.

The project involving state research bodies will be supervised by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), a state health agency which has been involved in a national fight to contain a coronavirus epidemic. 

Celltrion is already working on the development of antibodies with blood extracted from COVID-19 patients. The company has pledged a quick investment of some 20 billion won ($15 million) for the development of fast testing kits and medicines.

"We will do our best to secure COVID-19 therapeutic antibodies and start clinical trials in the shortest time," Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin said in an online press conference on March 12. He said his company will be able to initiate clinical trials on patients in six months.

"Until COVID-19 is eradicated in South Korea, we will increase the size of clinical trials so that many patients can receive the help of drugs through clinical trials," Seo said, vowing to develop fast diagnosis kits through antibodies obtained in the press of finding the treatment of COVID-19.

"Once we have antibodies that can be bonded to the antigen of COVID-19, we can also make a diagnostic kit," he said, adding the kit would allow patients to examine themselves and check the results within 10 to 20 minutes.

Celltrion, which produces Remsima, a copy of Janssen Biotech's Remicade treating rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease,
is among a group of South Korean drug and bo companies that have jumped into the race to develop vaccines or treatments, while doctors have formed a task force to find proper treatment by mixing antiviral drugs.

Also on Thursday, Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee visited Celltrion's head office in a free economic zone in the western port of Incheon for talks with Celltrion CEO Gi Woo-seong. Yoo said the government would actively support the quick development of Celltrion's treatment and quick diagnostic kits.