Daewoong Pharmaceutical (CEO: Jong Wook Lee) has received approval from the KFDA (Korean Food and Drug Administration) to enter into clinical trials for a next generation neural pain killer: DWP05195.

These clinical trials are set to take place at Seoul National University Hospital and the first phase will be performed on healthy patients to test for safety and tolerance. Applications for those who wish to participate have been accepted since February. Daewoong’s goal is for this product to enter the market in 2013. A Daewoong representative was quoted as saying, “DWP05195 differs in that it directly attacks the neural cells causing the disorder making its efficacy much higher than the other pain killers currently on the market. There are currently no other similar products on the market, and so DWP05195 is expected to be a global product.”

Patients suffering from diseases which are accompanied by these types of pains caused by neural cells endure an insurmountable amount of pain. The current neurological pain killers on the market were developed for patients suffering from epilepsy or clinical depression. Therefore they are not so effective in treating other neurological disorders and are also known to have adverse effects on the central nervous system. However there are no other similar drug that is currently on the market while the sales of currently available pain killers continue to increase. It is estimated that sales will rise from 2.8 million USD in 2008 to 7.6 million USD in 2015.

Daewoong aims to develop DWP05195 into a global blockbuster and plans are underway to work together with various pharmaceutical companies in order to co-develop similar products while simultaneously conducting the clinical trials. We will be able to know the results of the first clinical research phase once the data has been compiled at the end of 2009.