South Korean biotechnology company Optipharm is developing vaccines to reduce the country’s reliance on imported biological products. The company is also researching the use of genetically modified pig organs for human transplantation. The two projects use different technologies and target different problems.
Optipharm is developing vaccines using virus-like particles, or VLPs, while its transplant research focuses on genetically modifying pigs to make their organs more suitable for use in humans.1 Optipharm’s first vaccine target is foot-and-mouth disease, a contagious viral illness that affects cloven-hoofed farm animals like cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. The company aims to develop a vaccine using virus strains currently circulating in South Korea. The company is also researching a vaccine for hand, foot and mouth disease using the same VLP technology.
Despite their similar names, foot-and-mouth disease and hand, foot and mouth disease are different illnesses.2 Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a contagious viral illness that causes a fever, painful mouth sores, and a blister-like rash on the hands and feet and most commonly affects infants and children under the age of 5.3
VLPs are particles that resemble viruses in their outer structure but contain no genetic material. Hepatitis B and HPV vaccines licensed for use in the U.S. use VLP technology for production.
Optipharm produces the experimental foot and mouth disease and hand, foot and mouth disease vaccines using insect cells to create viral structural proteins, which then assemble into virus-like particles. The vaccines are still under development. Optipharm plans to continue both projects through pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, which tests the vaccines in humans.4
The country currently imports all of its foot-and-mouth disease vaccines. Optipharm hopes to establish domestic production with a locally developed alternative.5
U.S. Maintains Emergency Vaccine Supply for Foot-and-Mouth Disease
The United States maintains access to foot-and-mouth disease vaccines, but it uses them primarily as an emergency measure rather than for routine vaccination. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) maintains a national stockpile of foot-and-mouth vaccine and related countermeasures in case the disease enters the country. The USDA says the country has been free of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929 and views the vaccine stockpile as a safeguard in case of a potential outbreak. The U.S. also participates in the North American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine Bank with Canada and Mexico, which stores concentrated vaccine material that can be turned into vaccines if an outbreak occurs.6
Pig-to-Human Transplants
Optipharm’s transplant research is a separate part of the company’s work and does not involve its vaccine technology. The company is researching xenotransplantation, which means transplanting organs or tissues from one animal species into another. Optipharm hopes this technology could help address South Korea’s shortage of organs available for transplantation. According to figures cited by the company, 55,002 people in South Korea were waiting for organ transplants last year. The average waiting period reached 2,193 days, or approximately six years.7
South Korean researchers say that pigs could offer a potential source of organs because their organs are similar in size and structure to human organs. However, the human body can recognize pig organs as foreign and attack them, making transplantation difficult. Optipharm is using gene-editing technology to make pig organs more suitable for human transplantation. This technology allows scientists to change specific genes. The company removes pig genes that could trigger the human body’s defenses and introduces human genes that may help transplanted organs survive longer.8
According to CEO of Optipharm Kim Hyun-il, the company has developed genetically modified pigs with as many as 10 gene edits. The company breeds pigs to support early-stage research and prepare for future clinical trials. Optipharm plans to develop its transplantation technology in stages, starting with skin and corneas before moving to more complex organs, such as kidneys and hearts. The company hopes to advance pig skin grafts into clinical trials relatively quickly, particularly for patients with burns.9
For kidney transplantation, Optipharm reported that a kidney from a genetically modified pig survived for 221 days after researchers transplanted it into a nonhuman primate. The company plans to consider clinical trials for pig-to-human kidney transplantation after 2028, before potentially expanding its research to heart transplantation.10
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Click here to view References:1 Min-seon K. Optipharm advances pig-to-human transplants, homegrown foot-and-mouth vaccine. Korean Biomedical Review Oct. 7, 2026.
2 Ibid.
3 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. May. 7, 2024.
4 Min-seon K. Optipharm advances pig-to-human transplants, homegrown foot-and-mouth vaccine. Korean Biomedical Review Oct. 7, 2026.
5 Ibid.
6 U.S. Department of Agriculture. National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank. Dec. 21, 2025.
7 Min-seon K. Optipharm advances pig-to-human transplants, homegrown foot-and-mouth vaccine. Korean Biomedical Review Oct. 7, 2026.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
