South Korean drugmakers are at a crossroads on whether or not to continue developing COVID-19 treatments, as vaccination rates rise across the world and the first drug from global pharmaceutical Merck is set to debut soon. Some have already given up.

Merck’s recent decision to give away patents related to molnupiravir, which would become the world’s first COVID-19 pill, for developing countries to produce generic drugs, could prompt latecomers to drop out of the race, industry sources said.

Of several local players, JW Pharmaceutical, for instance, has already scrapped the plan to develop its own COVID-19 treatment after the company reviewed the feasibility.

JW Pharmaceutical initially submitted its plan to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to repurpose its anticancer drug as a COVID-19 therapy.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical is also said to have suspended its plan for the phase 3 clinical trial of Coviblock. The firm previously planned to announce results of a phase 2 clinical study in October and unveil its plan for the next clinical study. However, the schedule has been delayed as the company’s talks with the government have taken longer than expected.

Daewoong said the company is still in talks with the government to decide whether to move forward with a phase 3 clinical study or not. The company will announce its decision as soon as it can, it added.

It has been developing a COVID-19 treatment by repurposing Foister, the company’s chronic pancreatitis treatment.

Those companies that are still carrying out phase 3 clinical studies for their COVID-19 treatments include Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical and Shin Poong Pharm.

In September, Chong Kun Dang received approval from Ukraine’s Ministry of Health for a phase 3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 treatment candidate, Nafabeltan.

Shin Poong Pharm also started the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 treatment candidate, Pyramax, in South Korea last month.

The two companies, however, could potentially face difficulties in securing enough participants for their clinical studies since vaccination rates continue to rise, the sources said.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical, for instance, had to stop the phase 1 study of its COVID-19 drug candidate in the Philippines as the company struggled to recruit local patients, as the vaccination rate in the country rose.

The profitability of developing new COVID-19 treatments has also been called into question, the sources said, as Merck will likely allow 105 developing countries to produce a generic version of molnupiravir, the first oral antiviral COVID treatment.

In June, the US government paid $712 per treatment course offered by Merck. Experts in the pharmaceutical industry anticipate that generic drugmakers in developing countries could sell the drug for as little as $20 per five-day treatment.

Meanwhile, Celltrion’s Regkirona is the only COVID-19 treatment developed in South Korea to date.

(ws@heraldcorp.com)