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Japanese firm to start human clinical tests for COVID-19 medicine in 2021

(Xinhua)    09:50, August 26, 2020

TOKYO, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A biotechnology company in southwestern Japan said Tuesday it will start human clinical trials for a drug of treating COVID-19 in 2021.

Bonac Corp., a startup based in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, said it has developed 72 candidates for nucleic acid drugs and tested their effectiveness against the respiratory disease caused by COVID-19.

The drugs were developed in joint research with the Fukuoka Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences.

Among the candidates, 10 had proven to be effective in "significantly reducing the replication" of the virus, displaying the effectiveness of these medicines for COVID-19, according to the firm.

The research team then reduced the number of candidates from 10 to three that can be effective even in small doses and that are highly stable in the human body.

Clinical trials with human subjects will be initiated next year after one of the three candidates is selected through non-clinical tests.

By using the company's "RNA interference technology," Bonac said it will try to develop a drug that can decompose the genomic RNA of COVID-19 and induce antiviral effects in infected patients.

DNA and RNA, collectively called nucleic acids, can store and transmit genetic information and can be found in the cells of all living organisms.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Wen Ying, Liang Jun)

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