South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical said on Thursday its Chinese affiliate Beijing Hanmi Pharm will develop its new expectorant drug as a potential cure for COVID-19.

The drug locally branded as ‘Yianping’ is vaporized ambroxol, which was approved in July last year after a phase 3 trial was completed in China.

Ambroxol has been widely used worldwide to expel phlegm and arrest coughing since its first commercialization in Germany in 1979.

Hanmi Pharm said the decision was made after clinical cases to show a significant reduction in the risk of hypoxia-related death due to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) after treatment with Yianping in patients infected with COVID-19.

The company said Yianping will be initially evaluated in combination with other treatments against the virus. A clinical trial will be conducted at large health centers including a university hospital with 5,000 patient beds in Wuhan.

Hanmi Pharm’s holding company Hanmi Science is in process to receive regulatory approval of Yianping in the United States, Europe and South Korea.

By Pulse

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