Biotech firm Hyundai Bioscience says its oral COVID-19 treatment candidate combined with dexamethasone showed high efficacy in animal testing.
The South Korean company is currently re-purposing niclosamide-based CP-COV03 as a potential treatment for coronavirus disease.
The investigative drug's indication includes influenza.
Company officials said the use of both CP-COV03 and dexamethasone resulted in efficacy against COVID-19 that is 2.1 times higher than using dexamethasone alone.
Hyundai Bioscience has won approval from local drug authorities to conduct a Phase 1 clinical trial of CP-COV03 in 18 adult patients.
Currently, dexamethasone, a corticosteroid that reduces inflammation in various parts of the body, and Remdesivir, which is developed by Gilead Sciences, are used to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients.