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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

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Bukwang’s diabetes drug to enter phase 2b clinical trials in March

  • PUBLISHED :February 14, 2017 - 14:59
  • UPDATED :February 14, 2017 - 14:59
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[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s Bukwang Pharmaceutical is set to enter phase 2 clinical study in South Korea for a diabetes treatment candidate under development by the drug maker and US-based Melior Pharmaceuticals, the firm said on Feb. 14.

Bukwang secured domestic approval to begin phase 2b clinical trials from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for MLR-1023, an oral insulin sensitizer for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, on Feb. 10.




“The studies will begin across 60 clinical sites in the US and South Korea from March,” an official at Bukwang said. The company will conduct the clinical trials on patients who experienced insufficient improvement of blood sugar levels by taking existing oral diabetes medicines.

According to the firm, the treatment improved beta-cell function in diabetes models and combines well with current anti-diabetic drugs including metformin.

In June last year, the two firms said their phase 2a proof-of-concept study of MLR-1023 met its primary endpoint, lowering of post-prandial plasma glucose as evaluated in a mixed meal tolerance test, as well as several secondary endpoints including the lowering of fasting plasma glucose at a statistically significant level as per protocol design.

In 2013, Bukwang received an exclusive license for MLR-1023 and related compounds in specific countries in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan.

There are around 5 million people suffer from diabetes in South Korea. Across Asia, the number of diabetes cases is projected to increase to more than 320 million over the next 10 years, according to the International Diabetes Federation.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)

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