[THE INVESTOR] Korean drug company GC Pharma set up vaccine manufacturer Curevo in the United States toward the end of last year, industry sources reported for the first time on May 21.

The Seattle-based company, established in November 2017, is aimed at supporting GC Pharma’s vaccine development activities, they said. GC Pharma owned a 81.4 percent stake in Curevo as of the end of the first quarter.

Curevo has partnered with two global health organizations -- the Infectious Disease Research Institute  and the Mogam Institute for Biomedical Research -- to expand its business areas.

Corey Casper, IDRI’s chief medical officer, will lead a shingles project of the GC Pharma company.

Curevo aims to kick off the clinical stage of its next-generation shingles vaccine, CRV-101, in the U.S., market watchers said. The vaccine was co-developed by GC Pharma and the MOGAM Institute for Biomedical Research.

The sources said the goal of GC Pharma is to utilize Curevo’s pipelines for vaccines and make headway in the key North American country, the biggest drug market in the world.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)