[Click eStock] Vaccine 'Daebak' Green Cross... "Strong Performance and R&D Momentum All Set"

1Q Vaccine Exports Up 520% YoY
COVID-19 Vaccine Development and New Drugs to Enter US and China Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Green Cross's vaccine exports in the first quarter increased by more than 500% compared to the same period last year. New products such as Hunterase and Greenzin-F are also lined up. The company plans to develop a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine by participating in government national projects. This is why strong performance is expected this year.

On the 16th, Korea Investment & Securities forecasted Green Cross's operating profit for the first quarter of this year to be 8.6 billion KRW, a 522% increase compared to the same period last year. This is a strong performance exceeding market expectations by 10%. This is because highly profitable vaccine exports surged from 2.7 billion KRW in the first quarter of last year to 15 billion KRW this year.

Jinhung Kook, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, analyzed, "Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, patients are reluctant to visit hospitals, which may impact pharmaceutical companies' prescription drug sales. However, Green Cross's IVIG, used for immune enhancement and infectious disease treatment, is being administered alongside treatments for COVID-19 patients, and increased interest in pathogen prevention is driving demand for other vaccines as well, so the impact will be limited."

Earlier, Green Cross announced plans to develop COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics through a national project call by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The vaccine will be mass-produced using genetic recombination by identifying candidate substances among proteins expressed on the surface of the coronavirus. For therapeutics, B cells that produce antibodies will be isolated from confirmed patients' blood to discover candidate antibodies for COVID-19 treatment, and antibody therapeutics development will begin using recombinant technology. Researcher Jin emphasized, "Green Cross is a renowned vaccine company that succeeded in developing a vaccine when the novel flu outbreak occurred in Korea in 2009," adding, "The accumulated capabilities from developing various vaccines such as influenza, chickenpox, and hepatitis B will be applied to this vaccine development as well."

There is also abundant research and development (R&D) momentum. Approval for Hunterase sales in China is expected in the first half of the year. In the second half, sales approval for Greenzin-F and the Biologics License Application (BLA) submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for IVIG 10% are scheduled.

Considering these factors, Green Cross's sales this year are expected to increase by 5% from last year to 1.43 trillion KRW. Operating profit is projected to rise by 84% to 74 billion KRW during the same period. Korea Investment & Securities gave Green Cross a 'Buy' investment rating with a target price of 150,000 KRW. The closing price on the previous trading day was 110,000 KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.