GC Pharma to provide COVID-19 treatment, free
In this May 17, 2020, photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker collects a sample for COVID-19 testing at the Tongji community in Shulan in northeastern China's Jilin Province. Authorities have tightened restrictions in parts of Jilin province in response to a local cluster. AP-Yonhap
By Kim Yoo-chul
GC Pharma, a leading South Korean biopharmaceutical company, said Monday it will provide a possible COVID-19 treatment “for free” for patients testing positive with the contagious disease.
The company's plasma therapy ― GC5131A ― will be available for patients once its development is completed.
“Other than the government's planned financial provision, GC Pharma will cover all costs after the commercialization of GC5131A. No prerequisites, condition, or distribution limit have been set and that means GC Pharma will cover all possible financial losses if COVID-19 spreads,” it said, adding the decision was a result of an “understanding” with its shareholders.
“Treatments and drugs for contagious diseases such as COVID-19 should be intended to stabilize public health. We hope the decision will be seen as representative of South Korea's commitment to fight COVID-19, both collectively and thoroughly,” GC Pharma CEO Huh Eun-chul told investors in a note, according to the company.
No drug has been proven to be safe and effective in treating the virus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn't approved any drugs specifically to treat patients with COVID-19. But plasma therapy has been emerging as a “viable and first” option of possible management for patients hospitalized with the virus with doctors and pharmaceutical companies involved in addressing possible shortfalls.
GC5131A is currently under development and the firm earlier said it plans to commercialize it in the second half of the year. As the number of infected and the death toll are rising globally, leading pharmaceutical companies are teaming up with relevant authorities to develop possible treatments.
GC Pharma's upcoming product extracts immune proteins with antibodies from the blood plasma of recovered patients. Plasma is the liquid portion of blood that remains when all red and white blood cells and platelets have been removed.
The South Korean company recently teamed up with top-tier drug companies including CSL Behring and Takeda to jointly develop the blood plasma treatment. GC Pharma is one of the members of the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, which is the first case of the global plasma-initiated drug manufacturers forming a partnership for the single project of developing a plasma-derived hyperimmune globulin treatment for the disease.