'Invossa Ingredient Manipulation' Kolon Life Science Executives... Acquitted in First Trial

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Executives of Kolon Life Science who were indicted for manipulating the components of the osteoarthritis gene therapy drug Invossa KJ and submitting false documents to authorities have been acquitted.

On the 19th, the Criminal Division 25-3 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Kwon Seongsu, Kim Seonhee, and Im Jeongyeop) acquitted Kolon Life Science director Cho and executive director Kim of charges including obstruction of official duties by deception, fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and violation of the Subsidy Act.

In July 2017, Kolon Life Science stated during the process of obtaining domestic sales approval for Invossa from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) that the product was a gene therapy drug used for treating osteoarthritis and that its main ingredient was allogeneic cartilage cells. However, it was revealed that the main ingredient was fetal kidney-derived cells, leading to the suspension of distribution and sales in March 2019.

During this process, Cho, who was the head of the clinical development team overseeing the development, and Kim, who was the head of the bio new drug research institute, were indicted for submitting false data regarding Invossa’s components to obtain approval from the MFDS.

On this day, the court acknowledged that they had recorded some information that did not correspond to the facts but judged them not guilty, stating, "There is suspicion that the MFDS’s verification was insufficient during the Invossa product approval process." The court also acquitted Cho and Kim of charges related to receiving 8.2 billion KRW in subsidies as government project operators in 2015 based on false documents (fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violation of the Subsidy Act).

However, Cho was found guilty only of bribery for giving approximately 2 million KRW to an MFDS official along with a request for convenience during the Invossa development process and was fined 5 million KRW.

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