By Lee Jong-Soo

SEOUL, Korea – Hyundai Bioscience today announced that its broad-spectrum antiviral Xafty (CP-COV03) and its phase 2 clinical study result will be presented at the ‘Emerging Science’ session of the 2023 Microbial Annual Conference of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the world’s largest infections and microbiology conference, to be held in Houston, Texas, from 15th to 19th of this month.

The presenter will be Dr. Heung-Jung Woo, Chief of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallim University College of Medicine.

He was former Deputy Chairman of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Woo will be presenting the phase 2 study results of Xafty, followed by a Q&A session.

Unlike existing antivirals, Xafty has an innovative mechanism of action that does not directly target the virus, but rather the host cells and reactivating the cell’s autophagy function, allowing the cell to eliminate the virus. It is highly effective against the coronavirus family, including COVID-19, MERS, and SARS, and is considered the only candidate to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

300 patients were recruited for this phase 2 clinical trial of Xafty, which is enough size even for a phase 3 clinical trial for Emergency Use Authorization in Korea. The results showed a statistically significant 4-day faster improvement of symptoms than placebo group and a 6-day faster improvement than placebo group with high-risk patients. Also was demonstrated a 14-fold higher viral load reduction rate compared to placebo only after 16 hours of first dose, indicating its significantly fast antiviral efficacy.“We are honored to present Xafty’s outstanding achievement at the ASM Microbe 2023”, said Dr. Woo, “and it means that Xafty has been recognized by the global scientific community as an innovative solution to COVID-19 pandemic and future viral challenges.”

“ASM’s selection of Xafty for presentation suggests that Xafty is recognized as a research subject to revolutionize the way antiviral drugs are developed”, said Dr. Geunwoo Jin, head of Hyundai Bioscience’s Research Center. “We believe that ASM recognized the potential of Xafty to replace or complement existing coronavirus treatments, as well as to be expanded to treat a variety of viral diseases through clinical results.”