Green Cross halts US clinical trials for hemophilia drug

[THE INVESTOR] Green Cross announced on Oct. 13 that it will suspend clinical trials of GreenGene F, a treatment for A-type hemophilia, in the US and will focus on China.

The suspension is due to the difficulty in recruiting participants with the rare bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot normally. “We expected the clinical trials in the US to take two to three years, but as it is a rare disease, the recruitment overextended the trial timetable,” said an official. The clinical trials began in 2012.

The pharmaceutical company will concentrate on the ongoing clinical trials in China instead, which was approved in July and is scheduled to be completed by 2018.

Although the current Chinese market for the hemophilia treatment barely reaches 100 billion won (US$88.74 million), it has much room to grow as the patients with type A disorder is estimated to be 50,000, three times that of the US.

By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)