GC Pharma announced on April 2 that the COVID-19 blood medicine "GC5131A," which the company is developing, will be commercialized in the second half of this year.
The GC5131A is a hyperimmune globulin made by dividing only immune proteins containing various antibodies in the plasma of COVID-19 recovery patients. The difference is that there are more antibodies specialized for COVID-19 than representative blood product Immune globulin, which consists of general immune antibodies.
The reason for the rapid development of plasma therapy is that it is an immune globulin drug that has been used in the human body for a long time.
Unlike the development of new drugs, the development process can be simplified because the working mechanisms and methods of production are the same as those of identical products already commercialized.
A company official said, "We have already seen the effects of treating new infectious diseases in the past by administering plasma to recovery patients, so the results of the drug's treatment are already out."
The world's top blood product companies, such as Takeda and Grifols, are developing COVID-19 blood plasma products like GC Pharma with support from governments. They are also reportedly aiming to commercialize the treatment within the year.
Huh Eun-chul, CEO of GC Pharma , said that the clinical trials for treatment will soon begin, adding that the treatment will be developed for the most urgent purpose of treating serious patients and protecting high-risk groups such as frontline medical staff.
