GC Pharma, a South Korean biopharmaceutical company, has established Curevo Inc., a Seattle-based company to support GC Pharma's vaccine development activities.

GC Pharma partnered with global health organizations IDRI (Infectious Disease Research Institute) and MIBR (Mogam Institute for Biomedical Research) to form the new company. Curevo will bring together GC Pharma's commercial scale vaccine development and understanding of protein science with IDRI and MIBR's scientific expertise in vaccine, adjuvant and formulation development. Initial work will focus on advancing an innovative vaccine candidate against shingles to clinical stage.

"Establishing Curevo signals a crucial step forward in GC Pharma's long-standing dedication to prevent potentially serious diseases," said EC Huh, Ph.D. president of GC Pharma. "This exciting collaboration will increase the possibilities for immune-compromised populations to have better options."

"The bottom line is that this new collaboration will take advantage of the combined strength of these three organizations to more rapidly develop infectious disease vaccines and bring them to market," said Steve Reed, Ph.D., IDRI's president, chief executive officer and founder.

"MIBR scientists have been focusing on discovering novel cancer therapeutics and vaccines. Curevo creates an excellent conduit to achieve those goals by joining forces with GC Pharma and IDRI," said Senyon Teddy Choe, Ph. D., MIBR's president and director.

Corey Casper, M.D., IDRI's chief medical officer will lead the shingles project of the new company. Dr. Casper has more than 20 years of experience in designing, growing and sustaining internationally recognized programs in infection-related cancer, HIV, infection control and global oncology.