"Domestic Production Achieved After 28 Years"... First Production and Shipment of Anthrax Vaccine 'Baritrax Injection'

Developed by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, produced by GC Green Cross
One-tenth the price of imports... Significant cost savings

"With this shipment, we have established vaccine sovereignty. The ability to proactively utilize vaccines when needed means we now have the power to respond to crisis situations, such as bioterrorism threats." (Kim Gapjeong, Director of the Division of Diagnostic Analysis at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency)

Im Seung-kwan, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (center), along with officials from the agency and GC Green Cross, are cutting the ribbon at the commemorative ceremony for the first shipment of the anthrax vaccine "Baritrax" held on the 8th at the GC Green Cross Hwasun Plant in Hwasun County, Jeollanam-do. Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency held a ceremony on the 8th at the GC Green Cross Hwasun Plant in Hwasun County, Jeollanam-do, to commemorate the first shipment of the anthrax vaccine "Baritrax Injection," developed to prepare for public health crises such as bioterrorism. With this, Korea has joined the ranks of "vaccine sovereign nations" that produce and stockpile anthrax vaccines using domestic technology.

Baritrax Injection, jointly developed by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and GC Green Cross, is regarded as a model case of public-private cooperation, going beyond the localization of vaccine production. The agency has been dedicated to developing a domestically produced anthrax vaccine for 28 years, starting with basic research in 1997 when it was the National Institute of Health. The agency led the discovery of candidate substances and key non-clinical (animal) experiments, while GC Green Cross was responsible for process development, clinical trials, and production.

Notably, Baritrax Injection is the world's first anthrax vaccine to use the "recombinant protein" method. Existing overseas anthrax vaccines have used a method of directly culturing anthrax bacteria and attenuating its toxicity, which raised concerns about side effects. In contrast, Baritrax Injection is produced using genetic recombination technology to create only the protective antigen (PA) protein, a toxin component of anthrax bacteria, and is non-toxic.

Anthrax is classified as a "Category 1 infectious disease" with a high risk of being used as a bioterrorism weapon. Until now, Korea had no domestically produced vaccine and relied entirely on imports from countries such as the United States. This led to concerns about unstable supply and high costs. However, with the success of domestic production, Korea can now respond proactively even in the face of international supply chain issues or a pandemic. The GC Green Cross Hwasun Plant is equipped to produce up to 10 million doses annually. Since the anthrax vaccine requires four doses per person, approximately 2.5 million people can be vaccinated each year.

The economic impact is also significant. Although the specific introduction price has not been disclosed, the agency stated that the pure unit cost is only about 10% of that of imported vaccines, resulting in substantial cost savings.

Anthrax Vaccine 'Baritracks Injection'. Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency

GC Green Cross plans to actively pursue exports in addition to supplying domestic stockpiles. This is because anthrax remains endemic in regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia, and the threat of bioterrorism persists in conflict areas. A representative from GC Green Cross stated, "In a market currently monopolized by the U.S. product (BioThrax), Korea's new vaccine will be an attractive alternative. We are preparing to target countries with ongoing outbreaks or conflict zones as our primary export markets."

Im Seungkwan, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said, "The first shipment of the domestically produced anthrax vaccine is the result of close cooperation between national institutions and private companies, and marks an important turning point for national health security. We will continue to strengthen our vaccine stockpiling plans and contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of Korea's bioindustry to prepare for infectious disease and bioterrorism crises."

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