The Korea Health Industry Development Institute said the final phase of clinical trials for the leukemia drug Radotinib is under way.

Radotinib is the first Asian-developed treatment for leukemia that attacks only cancer cells. It is effective on patients who are tolerant of the blood cancer drug Gleevec, which is known as the “magic bullet” to kill cancer. There are high hopes that Radotinib will emerge as the next-generation leukemia treatment.

In Korea, more than three-hundred South Koreans are diagnosed with leukemia each year. This results in the nation’s National Health Insurance Corporation paying some one-hundred billion won each year to multinational pharmaceutical companies.