Green Cross seals record drug supply deal in Brazil

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s leading plasma-derived drugmaker Green Cross said Friday that it has secured a record-scale export deal to supply its flagship immunodeficiency drug IVIG-SN to Brazil.

 The Korean drugmaker is slated to supply $25.7 million worth of IVIG-SN — human normal immunoblobulin G for intravenous administration — to Brazil starting from July until March of next year, the company said. 

It marks the largest single order of IVIG-SN secured by the company since it began exporting the drug, Green Cross said. The company also secured a $5.7 million order from the Brazilian government in February 2015.

“With the recent order, Green Cross will further expand its presence in Brazil’s immunoglobulin market where it already holds a 40 percent market share,” Green Cross president Huh Eun-chul said in a statement.

Exclusively developed by Green Cross, IVIG-SN treats primary immunodeficiency disorders which weaken or rid the immune system’s ability to fight infectious diseases. Sold in more than 30 countries, the drug is one of the firm’s top-selling products.

IVIG-SN is slated to enter the US as early as next year. The firm submitted the drug to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval in November 2015.

“As the FDA typically approves a drug around one year after its submission, we expect IVIG-SN to be approved by the end of this year and commercialized in the US within 2017,” said Green Cross spokesperson Kang Hyun-gu.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)