GC Green Cross, Largest Supplier of Domestic Flu Vaccine for 6 Consecutive Years

In the government's 2025~2026 seasonal influenza (flu) vaccine procurement bid, GC Green Cross, SK Bioscience, and Sanofi-Aventis Korea have once again formed a distinct 'three strong' structure with different strategies.

According to the pharmaceutical and bio industry on the 27th, in the flu vaccine procurement bid by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, GC Green Cross won 2.63 million doses, SK Bioscience won 2.4 million doses, and Sanofi won 2.25 million doses, ranking 1st to 3rd respectively.

GC Green Cross, a traditional powerhouse in flu vaccines, secured the largest supply among participating companies. 'GC Flu' is the representative flu vaccine of GC Green Cross. GC Green Cross succeeded in commercialization in 2009 and quickly replaced imported vaccines, establishing itself as the company supplying the largest quantity for 6 consecutive years.

A representative of GC Green Cross emphasized, "By stably supplying globally standardized vaccines in line with WHO recommendations for a long time, we have been at the forefront of promoting public health and are doing our best in developing products applying next-generation technologies such as mRNA flu vaccines and high immunogenicity flu vaccines."

SK Bioscience won 2.4 million doses in this bid. Among the 7 companies that participated in the bid, 6 supplied egg-based vaccines, while SK Bioscience was the only one in Korea to produce cell culture-based vaccines and entered the competition.

SK Bioscience succeeded in commercializing cell culture vaccines as the second in the world. This method has several advantages, including shortened production period, improved production efficiency, and ensured safety for egg allergy patients, making it a next-generation technology in vaccine manufacturing.

The French global pharmaceutical company Sanofi successfully won 2.25 million doses by offering the lowest bid price (9,339 won). Sanofi supplies the flu vaccine 'VaxigripTetra'. Sanofi is the company with the most robust production and distribution network for flu vaccines in the global vaccine market.

An industry expert said, "As the government's vaccine supply strategy becomes increasingly diversified and the response system to aging and emerging infectious diseases is strengthened, the demand for next-generation vaccine technology in the procurement market is gradually increasing," adding, "If mRNA methods and high immunogenicity vaccines are commercialized in the future, technological competitiveness will become an increasingly important factor."


vrdw88@fnnews.com Kang Jung-mo Reporter