Green Cross to supply flu vaccine to Latin America
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Different Green Cross influenza vaccines will continue to be supplied to Central and South American countries through April. Green Cross Corp., Korea’s leading vaccine and blood derivatives maker, plans to boost exports of its flu vaccines this year. / Courtesy of Green Cross Corp.
By Kwon Ji-youn
Green Cross Corp. announced Friday that it will continue to supply Central and South American countries with flu vaccines until April.
In January, Green Cross won a $23 million flu vaccine order from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a subsidiary of the World Health Organization that promotes health and quality of life in the countries of the Americas, and has engaged in efforts to supply the vaccine to countries such as Columbia, Peru, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Paraguay.
These efforts began on Feb. 28, when Green Cross, Korea’s leading vaccine maker, shipped its first load.
The company will also participate in a PAHO bidding for the flu vaccine in the Northern Hemisphere later this year, boosting exports by a large margin. Only four companies have secured the right to participate in the WHO bid. Green Cross is the only Asian company.
Green Cross became the first pharmaceutical company in Korea to develop a flu vaccine in 2009, and because flu epidemic seasons differ in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, it has been able to export vaccines year round.
It became the world’s second pharmaceutical firm to have obtained prequalification approval for its influenza vaccines.
“Shipments of other products have increased exponentially since we first began exporting the flu vaccine in 2010,” a Green Cross staffer said. “This only reconfirms the fact that we have been acknowledged internationally. Our status has risen in the global market following the development of the H1N1 flu vaccine in 2009.”
The firm will also focus on the commercialization of its H5N1 vaccine and will kick off clinical tests for the quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIV), which contains antigens representing four influenza virus strains.