Orion Holdings Signs Joint Development Agreement for Tuberculosis Vaccine with Curatis

(From the left) Baek Yong-woon, CEO of Shandong Lukang Haoliyou, and Jo Gwan-gu, CEO of Curatis, are signing a joint vaccine development agreement.

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Orion Holdings announced on the 17th that it has signed a contract for the joint development of a tuberculosis vaccine with domestic vaccine specialist Curatis through its joint venture in China, Shandong Lukang Haoriyou Biological Technology Development Co., Ltd.

Shandong Lukang Haoriyou Biological Technology Development Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Orion Holdings and the local state-owned pharmaceutical company Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical in March last year to enter the Chinese bio market.

Orion Holdings will invest 200 billion KRW in the joint development of the tuberculosis vaccine and plans to establish a joint venture to develop an adult tuberculosis vaccine, as well as jointly promote clinical trials and regulatory approval. Additionally, it plans to build a large-scale bio factory for vaccine development and mass production in Jining City, Shandong Province, China, within the first half of the year.

Curatis plans to transfer vaccine production facility construction technology to the joint venture and cooperate to expand the vaccine pipeline (development product lineup) in China.

Orion Holdings explained, "Currently, there is no adult tuberculosis vaccine. However, with 350 million latent tuberculosis carriers in China and the Chinese government designating tuberculosis as a key infectious disease for management, there is significant national-level interest."

Orion Holdings also plans to promote bio-pharmaceutical CMO (Contract Manufacturing Organization) and CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) businesses through the joint venture in the future.

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