Green Cross is an exemplary R&D-oriented company that leads the biotechnology industry in Korea. This is clear given what Green Cross has achieved since its foundation in 1967.
Starting from the nation's first production and sales of Plasma Fractions in 1970, which required sophisticated technology, Green Cross has striven to develop ethical drugs that are hard to produce but essential to patients. Subsequently, it is now an internationally recognized biotechnology company in the fields of virus and bacteria.
Twelve years of research efforts have resulted in the world’s third development of a Hepatitis B vaccine in 1983. “Hepavax”, a Hepatitis B vaccine developed by Green Cross contributed to the health of the nation substantially, by reducing by half the Hepatitis B virus carrier rate that had reached 13%. Up to now, 400 million doses of“Hepavax”, a quantity that can vaccinate 130 million people, have been distributed to 60 countries and international organizations such as WHO and UNICEF. It is recorded as the most widely used Hepatitis B vaccine.
Following the Hepatitis B vaccine, Green Cross also succeeded in developing the first Epidemic Hemorrhagic Fever vaccine in 1988, a chicken pox vaccine, the world’s second in 1993, and an AIDS diagnostic reagent for the first time in Korea. Likewise, Green Cross has know-how and competitiveness that set it apart from competitors in the field of biomedicine.
With the belief that “R&D is the revenue of the future”, Green Cross is fully committed to the development of new medicines, by investing annually 5 to 7% of total sales revenue in R&D, the largest amount among pharmaceutical companies in Korea.
