GC Biopharma building [Courtesy of GC Biopharma]

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GC Biopharma Corp. and SK bioscience Inc., two leading vaccine developers in Korea, are expanding their expertise into rare disease, messenger ribonucleic acid and cell and gene therapies in efforts to seek new growth opportunities.

According to GC Biopharma on Sunday, the proportion of general products and rare disease medicines to total products rose 3.3 percentage points from the previous year to 30.3 percent last year. In contrast, the proportion of vaccine products fell to 20.6 percent from 22.5 percent in the same period. This is a significant shift from 2020, when vaccine products accounted for 16.8 percent and general products 8.5 percent.

The company’s rare disease treatment Hunterase led the growth of general product sales. Hunterase is a treatment for Hunter syndrome, a genetic disorder where mucopolysaccharides accumulate due to a deficiency of mucopolysaccharide-degrading enzymes.

Last year, Hunterase sales gained 35 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 71.8 billion won ($55 million). GC Biopharma is developing a succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency treatment to strengthen its rare disease pipeline.

SK bioscience plans to expand into the new drug development market with cell and gene therapies this year, moving beyond its existing vaccine business. The company’s research and development center being built in Songdo, near Seoul, will have facilities to perform new research tasks, including CGT and viral vector research.

SK bioscience is also considering joint venture and takeover options to expand into new markets. Its goal this year is to acquire one CGT company and one mRNA company. In January, SK bioscience hired Kenneth Lee, head of commercial division for the Americas at biotech company GenScript ProBio, to lead its R&D center in Pangyo, near Seoul.

Both GC Biopharma and SK bioscience also plan to actively develop mRNA vaccines. GC Biopharma is developing an mRNA flu vaccine using the lipid nanoparticle platform licensed from Acuitas Therapeutics in Canada. GC Biopharma aims to enter phase 1 clinical trials next year.

SK bioscience is developing mRNA vaccines for Japanese encephalitis, Lassa fever and Covid-19. All three projects are in the basic research and preclinical stages.