GC Pharma wins a $49 million flu vaccine deal with PAHO

GC Pharma won a $48.9 million flu vaccine deal with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the company said Monday.

GC Pharma's headquarters in Yongin, Gyeonggi [GC PHARMA]

GC Pharma won a $48.9 million flu vaccine deal with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the company said Monday.

It is the largest deal since the company became a qualified supplier in 2011 to PAHO, an international health agency for the Americas under the World Health Organization (WHO).

Under the agreement, GC Pharma will supply its flu vaccines to Latin American countries starting early next year. The $48.91 million deal is 22 percent higher than last year's exports to PAHO, which totaled about $39.93 million.

While most of the vaccines PAHO distributes are trivalent flu vaccines, GC Pharma was the first Korean company to start supplying its quadrivalent flu vaccines, in 2019. The trivalent vaccine protects against three strains of the flu — two strains of influenza A and one of influenza B — while the quadrivalent vaccine is designed to protect against four different flu viruses, two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses.

GC Pharma's GC FLU quadrivalent vaccine received prequalification from the WHO in 2016. The vaccine, which was the first-ever to be developed in Asia, was also the second quadrivalent flu vaccine to win WHO prequalification.

Of the $48.9 million, about 24 percent is for quadrivalent flu vaccines, GC Pharma said.

The size of global flu vaccine market, which was about $5.8 billion last year, is estimated to grow to $7.4 billion in 2025, according to data by market tracker Evaluate Pharma.

"Considering the potential growth of the market and the strengths of GC Pharma’a quality products, we anticipate a further growth in the future," said Lee Woo-jin, head of global sales team at GC Pharma.

Last Thursday, the company said that it has ceased discussions with Janssen about a possible contract manufacturing deal for Covid-19 vaccines.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]