Ascletis Pharma Inc. announces that the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved the Investigational New Drug (IND) application of ASC10, an oral inhibitor drug candidate targeting RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) for Covid-19. Ascletis is China's first biotech company which has obtained IND approvals of an oral RdRp inhibitor from both China NMPA and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
ASC10 is an oral double prodrug which has a new and differentiated chemical structure from the single prodrug molnupiravir. After oral administration, both ASC10 and molnupiravir are rapidly and completely converted in vivo into the same active metabolite ASC10-A, also known as
