By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Green Cross, a Korean drug firm, will market the country's first locally developed vaccine for type A influenza. Approval was given Wednesday by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) for the sales of the vaccine named Green Flu-S.

It is the eighth vaccine for the influenza following those developed by companies in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia.

The pharmaceutical company signed a deal to supply the first batches of the vaccine to the government. The KFDA said it was developed in June and has passed animal and human clinical tests.

Green Cross performed clinical tests on 474 subjects, all of whom were over 18 years old, and showed that a single inoculation was effective.

About half, or 46 percent, of the subjects exhibited minor side effects, such as tenderness around the area of inoculation and fatigue, but the reactions were not different from those from vaccine trials in other countries, health officials said. The clinical tests on children and adolescents under 18 are underway now with approval expected next month.

The agency also announced the new vaccines proved to be effective for groups that are known to be particularly vulnerable to influenza A.

The drug maker will produce enough Green Flu-S for one dose each for 17.2 million people, about 35 percent of the country's population.Medical staff and health officials will be the first to get vaccinated from next Tuesday.

After further clinical tests are completed, elementary, middle and high school students will be inoculated in November. Children from six months to six year olds and pregnant women will be administered the vaccine in December.

Elderly and chronically ill patients will be vaccinated next January.

The H1N1 virus has claimed the lives of 20 Koreans after it was first reported in May.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr