Samjin Pharmaceutical said Friday that it held a “HOST” symposium at the Grand Hyatt Seoul on Aug. 24-25 to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the launch of its antiplatelet drug, Platless Tab (clopidogrel), and to share the latest knowledge on clinical research related to clopidogrel.

Professor Kim Hyo-soo of the Department of Cardiology at Seoul National University Hospital, who also served as the 21st president of the Korean Society of Cardiology, chaired the symposium on “Harmonizing cardiovascular treatment.” Over 100 cardiologists and clinicians from across the country attended the workshop.

Professor Kang Ji-hoon of Seoul National University Hospital started the symposium with a lecture on “Long-term maintenance of patients treated with coronary stenting,” based on the results of the “HOST-EXAM” study published in LANCET in 2021 and the results of the “HOST-EXAM extended” study published in Circulation in 2023 as a follow-up study.

“Long-term follow-up of the 5,530 patients included in the HOST-EXAM study showed that clopidogrel was superior to aspirin in terms of major outcomes such as death, stroke, and bleeding,” Professor Kang said. “This proved once again that clopidogrel is the optimal option for long-term treatment of patients who have undergone coronary intervention.”

He then lectured on the new randomized controlled trial “HOST-PREVENTION,” conducted by Seoul National University Hospital and participated in by over 60 Korean medical institutions since 2022.

The HOST-PREVENTION study enrolled 10,034 asymptomatic primary prevention patients with 50 percent or less stenotic coronary lesions.

“The ASPREE, ASCEND, and ARRIVE studies published overseas in 2018 proved that aspirin was ineffective in elderly and diabetic patients, and we hypothesized that clopidogrel could be an alternative as a solution for primary prevention therapy for such patients,” said Professor Han Jung-kyu of Seoul National University Hospital, who also delivered a lecture. “The HOST-PREVENTION study is expected to expand the therapeutic area of clopidogrel to primary prevention therapy.”

Samjin Pharmaceutical's antithrombotic drug Platless Tab is a clopidogrel bisulfate formulation launched in January 2007. It is prescribed for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and peripheral arterial diseases as a monotherapy or combination therapy. It is supplied to most of Korea's largest tertiary hospitals. It can also be used in patients undergoing a drug-eluting stent (DES) procedure based on clinical trials.

In March 2009, two years after the launch of Platless Tab in 2007, Samjin Pharmaceutical successfully synthesized the raw material for Korea's first “spherical-particle” clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate (spherical particles of clopidogrel hydrogen sulfate, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same, and manufacturing methods thereof: registered patent 10-1324862) and obtained a manufacturing and synthesis license from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Samjin Pharmaceutical President Choi Ji-hyun said, “Samjin Pharmaceutical will continue to do its best to ensure that ‘Platless Tablets’ will leap from a leading item in the domestic market to a new game-changer in the global markets through continuous quality control.”