GC Pharma said Monday that it would give out its blood plasma-derived COVID-19 treatment for free to domestic patients.

The company’s pipeline, GC5131A, is currently under development and mass distribution is due in the second half of 2020.

Huh Eun-chul, the CEO of GC Pharma, wrote to shareholders requesting their understanding over the company’s decision to put long-term health care stability over short-term profit.

Many firms have previously offered potential COVID-19 treatments and vaccines at low cost out of humanitarian motivations, but this is the first time a firm has sought no rewards at all.

Apart from the initial government subsidy, GC Pharma said, it will gain nothing and will shoulder the rest of the research and development costs, as well as costs incurred post-commercialization.

The treatments to be provided will be bottomless and condition-free, GC Pharma said.

GC Pharma specializes in plasma-derived medical products. Plasma is the largest constituent of human blood. Within the yellowish liquid is the naturally formed antibody that companies such as GC Pharma use to create immunoglobulin medicines. The new COVID-19 treatment involves plasma from recovered coronavirus patients and is different from a direct blood transfusion, which uses whole blood.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)