Green Cross to supply varicella virus strain to Kaketsuken

Rhee Byung-geon, left, president of Green Cross Corp. (GCC), poses with Seiji Miyamoto, director general of Kaketsuken, at the latter’s office in Kumamoto, Japan, Tuesday, after signing an agreement on the transfer of GCC’s varicella virus strain to the Japanese pharmaceutical firm for vaccine development and production. / Courtesy of Green Cross Corp.

Green Cross Corp., Korea’s leading vaccine maker, has agreed to supply the varicella virus strain to Kaketsuken, a Japanese pharmaceutical firm, for vaccine development and production.

A company spokesman said Green Cross President Rhee Byung-geon and Kaketsuken Director General Seiji Miyamoto signed the agreement at the latter’s office in Kumamoto, Japan, Tuesday.

He said the agreement enables Kaketsuken to develop and manufacture its own vaccines against varicella and herpes zoster by making use of the strain supplied by Green Cross.

Kaketsuken is a leading company in the field of human and animal vaccines, and blood plasma products.

Green Cross will be paid royalties from Kaketsuken in return for the strain supply.

The Korean firm became the world’s second developer of varicella vaccine in 1993. The vaccine was the result of four years of experimenting on the virus extracted from a 33-month-old boy with chickenpox in 1989.

In February, Green Cross won a bid to supply $10 million worth of varicella vaccine to the Pan American Health Organization, a regional office of the World Health Organization, this year.

The company said it has been making efforts to upgrade and expand its production capacity to meet rising global demand for varicella vaccine. It plans to carry out more research to improve the quality of products and meet international standards.