POSCO Int'l marks 1st animal vaccine exports

POSCO International Corp., the general trading and energy exploration unit of South Korea's steel giant POSCO Holdings Inc., announced on Thursday that it has supplied swine pneumonia vaccines to the National Veterinary Joint Stock Company (NAVETCO), Vietnam's largest animal vaccine company. This marks the first time for POSCO International to export an animal vaccine.

The product exported this time is the epidemic pig pneumonia vaccine Inno MHP, developed by the domestic biotech startup Innovac. This batch is sufficient for vaccinating around 100,000 pigs.

Innovac, a startup established in 2016 by Prof. Han Tae-Wook and researchers from Kangwon National University's College of Veterinary Medicine, possesses advanced technology that can simultaneously defend against pig diseases like pneumonia and infectious diseases like Circovirus. Innovac's animal vaccines have been patented in the United States and Europe and have received product approvals in Vietnam.

POSCO International recognized Innovac's next-generation animal vaccine manufacturing technology and market potential early on, providing support through a collaborative fund and jointly promoting overseas marketing efforts. In the future, the general trading company will also challenge the Chinese export market in cooperation with Innovac.

POSCO International considers its bio business as a key growth driver. The company continues its collaboration with BioApp, a biotech company equipped with a plant protein platform technology, after securing a stake with a 5-billion-won ($3.74-million) investment last year. Additionally, it plans to focus on developing the biodegradable bioplastic business.

"We aim to leap into the forefront of the group's eco-friendly future materials by establishing a value chain across the entire bio-business," a company source said. "We will actively pursue not only financial support through collaborative funds for small- and medium-sized ventures but also engage in robust overseas marketing cooperation."

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com