Shenzhen Evergreen Therapeutics Co., Ltd. announced on September 23, 2020 eastern time that the FDA has officially approved the company's phase I clinical application for the COVID-19 oral capsule EG-009. The IND application was submitted under the FDA's CTAP* program specific to the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia. The entire IND review took only 26 natural days.

EG-009 is one of nine research and development pipelines of EG-009 for the treatment of cytokine storms caused by COVID-19. Cytokine storm is one of the main causes of death in COVID-19 patients. The oral drug EG-009 is used mainly to prevent and treat the cytokine storm caused by the novel Coronavirus (Cytokine release syndrome). At a time when the global COVID-19 pandemic continues, the development of EG-009 will bring new hope for reducing mortality among COVID-19 patients.

Evergreen began developing its COVID-19 treatment immediately after the COVID-19 outbreak. While preparing for the clinical trial, Evergreen also made a lot of arrangements for the basic research and patent application of the COVID-19 treatment series. Dr. Xin Du, CEO of Evergreen Pharmaceuticals said, "Focusing on clinical needs and the value of the drug has always been our top priority. As a rapidly developing innovative pharmaceutical enterprise, it has been a norm for Evergreen to constantly adjust and perfect the R&D pipeline. Upon approval of the IND of EG-009, Evergreen 's research team will begin a clinical trial of COVID-19 as soon as possible to give infected patients new therapeutic hope."