South Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said on Tuesday it received Indian regulatory approval to test its anti-parasitic niclosamide drug to treat COVID-19 patients in an early-stage human trial.
The phase 1 trial, approved by India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), will involve around 30 healthy participants to test safety and kickstart this month, Daewoong said in a statement.
The South Korean drugmaker is testing the drug in partnership with New Delhi-based Mankind Pharma Ltd, which will continue the second and third phases of trials in India on mild and severe coronavirus patients.
New Zealand On Alert After 4 Cases Of COVID-19 Emerge From Unknown Source
More than three months after its last case of community spread, New Zealand has four new cases of the coronavirus from an unknown source. The island nation, seen as a global exemplar in the battle to contain the coronavirus, moved quickly to identify the source of transmission and halt further spread.
All four cases are members of the same family, who live in South Auckland, the government said Tuesday.
The first case identified in the cluster was a person in their 50s with no overseas travel history. The person has been symptomatic for five days and was confirmed positive on Tuesday. The six members of the person’s household were then tested: three tested positive and three negative.
While the cases are all in one household, more than one workplace was affected, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a late evening press conference on Tuesday in which she announced a heightened state of alert for the country.