Orion Holdings Invests 5 Billion KRW in Domestic Vaccine Specialist 'Curetis'

Heo In-cheol, Vice Chairman and CEO of Orion Holdings (left), and Jo Gwan-gu, CEO of Curatis, are taking a commemorative photo at the signing ceremony of the 'Tuberculosis Vaccine Technology Transfer MOU'.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Orion Holdings announced on the 10th that it has invested 5 billion KRW in the domestic vaccine specialist company ‘Curatis’ to expand its pharmaceutical and bio business in China.

Through this investment, the commercialization of tuberculosis vaccines in the Chinese market, which Orion Holdings is currently pursuing, will gain further momentum. Within this year, they plan to introduce Curatis’ tuberculosis vaccine technology for adolescents and adults through a joint venture in China and actively promote clinical trials and regulatory approval in China. Earlier in April, Orion Holdings and Curatis signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the introduction of tuberculosis vaccine technology for adolescents and adults.

Orion Holdings is focusing on discovering leading domestic bio-venture companies, investing 10 billion KRW in bio-venture companies this year alone. In May, it signed a main contract for the introduction of technology for a colorectal cancer diagnostic kit with ‘Genomictree,’ a domestic early cancer diagnosis specialist company, and invested 5 billion KRW. They plan to discover domestic bio and new drug technologies such as synthetic drugs and biopharmaceuticals and successfully introduce them to the Chinese market to open the era of ‘K-Bio.’

Curatis is a global vaccine specialist company. It is recognized as leading the domestic vaccine self-sufficiency and being at the forefront of the commercialization of adult tuberculosis vaccines. It has secured excellent results in terms of vaccine safety and immunogenicity in domestic adult Phase 2a and adolescent Phase 1 clinical trials. It is also highly regarded for vaccine production technology, including contract manufacturing of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V.’

Genomictree is a bio-healthcare company specializing in the development of in vitro early cancer diagnostic products. It possesses cancer early diagnosis testing infrastructure capable of specimen collection, storage, transport, preprocessing, DNA extraction, bisulfite treatment, real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction), and result analysis. In particular, patents for newly developed methylation epigenetic DNA biomarkers for colorectal, bladder, and lung cancers have been registered not only in Korea but also in the United States, Europe, Japan, and China.

In March, Orion Holdings completed the establishment of a joint venture with Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical to enter the bio business in China, laying the foundation for entering the 160 trillion KRW-scale Chinese pharmaceutical and bio market. Based on the trust of its partner Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical, through active mutual cooperation, it smoothly completed the complex local corporate merger notification and regulatory approval procedures and established the joint venture. Additionally, it regularly holds the ‘Korea-China Pharmaceutical and Bio Development Forum,’ which involves top experts from the domestic financial sector in pharmaceuticals and bio, continuously discovering excellent bio technologies.

An Orion Holdings official said, “Orion Group is aggressively investing in excellent domestic bio-venture companies such as Curatis and Genomictree for the success of its bio business in China,” adding, “We will actively discover Korea’s outstanding bio technologies and succeed locally in China to open the era of ‘K-Bio.’”

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