Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- SK Chemicals, an SK Group unit which produces eco-friendly materials and offers healthcare solutions services, will provide Alvesco, a brand name for ciclesonide used to treat asthma and allergic rhinitis, to 11 medical institutions in South Korea for clinical research to see if it works in treating 141 patients infected with a novel coronavirus.

Institut Pasteur Korea, an infectious disease-focused research institute, has said that ciclesonide is the most plausible drug for COVID-19, citing its safety and medicinal efficacy. Out of more than 3,000 drugs tested, the institute said that some 20 species, including ciclesonide, had anti-viral activity like Remdesivir, Kaletra and Chloroquine which are currently undergoing clinical trials.

Remdesivir is a novel antiviral drug in the class of nucleotide analogs. Kaletra is a prescription medicine approved for the treatment of HIV infection. Chloroquine is a medication used to prevent and to treat malaria.

For its pharmaceutical business, SK Chemicals has put more focus on vaccines and blood products than chemical drugs. The company has developed various vaccines.