GC Green Cross Prepares for mRNA Entry... Establishes Pilot Production Facility at Hwasun Plant

"Proactive mRNA Platform Acquisition Project"
Aiming to Expand Scope to Rare Disease Therapeutics

GC Green Cross announced on the 30th that it has established a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) production facility at its vaccine factory located in Hwasun, Jeollanam-do, and has begun full-scale operations.

Exterior view of GC Green Cross Hwasun Plant. [Photo by GC Green Cross]

The newly completed facility is a pilot-scale manufacturing plant compliant with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, and GC Green Cross plans to internalize its own mRNA technology through this facility and continuously accumulate related capabilities.

The new facility is equipped as an "all-in-one" plant capable of producing all stages related to mRNA. This reduces risks such as contamination caused by material transfer and enables rapid production response. It also features the introduction of single-use production equipment, which lowers the risk of cross-contamination and allows for the production of multiple products.

GC Green Cross has selected mRNA as one of the next-generation drug development platforms and is conducting research to enter clinical stages. To this end, last year it signed a development and option contract with Aquitas for lipid nanoparticle (LNP) development and established a new mRNA-LNP platform. Currently, it is developing an mRNA influenza vaccine and a treatment for succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency (SSADHD), a rare disease, using this platform. In October, it also signed a joint research and development (R&D) contract for mRNA therapeutics related to autoimmune diseases with the U.S. biotech venture Imetas Therapeutics.

GC Green Cross plans to verify the efficacy and safety of vaccine and therapeutic candidate substances at the new mRNA production facility, accumulate technology and capabilities, and then produce clinical trial drugs applying pilot GMP. In the future, it plans to expand its scope to commercialization and contract manufacturing organization (CMO) business.

Jung Jae-wook, head of R&D at GC Green Cross, said, "The completion of this new production facility is part of a proactive project to secure mRNA platform technology," adding, "This facility can be used in various ways for rapid response to future pandemics and joint research and development."

mRNA production facility at GC Green Cross Hwasun Plant. [Photo by GC Green Cross]

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