Novavax CEO Visits SK Bioscience Plant... Korea Highlighted as Global Vaccine Production Hub (Comprehensive)

Visiting Andong Plant on the 26th to Inspect Production Facilities
Scheduled Meeting with Pan-Government TF During Korea Visit
Possibility of Accelerated Approval by MFDS for Novavax

Expectations for Korea's Leap as an 'Asia Vaccine Hub' Nation

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Global pharmaceutical companies are focusing on South Korea as a production base for COVID-19 vaccines. Currently, three types of COVID-19 vaccines?AstraZeneca (AZ), Novavax, and Sputnik V?are being produced domestically. Amid this, Stanley Erck, CEO of Novavax, along with other Novavax executives, will visit South Korea in person to discuss domestic vaccine production and import issues.

According to SK Bioscience, CEO Erck will visit South Korea on the 26th and tour the SK Bioscience plant in Andong, Gyeongbuk, where Novavax vaccines are produced. They plan to inspect the production facilities at the Andong plant and review the progress of regulatory approvals. An SK Bioscience official stated, “Novavax executives and staff will visit the Andong plant, where licensing and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) activities are underway, to discuss the supply of raw materials and components and the progress of approvals to ensure smooth production.” SK Bioscience also contract manufactures the AZ vaccine in addition to the Novavax vaccine.

During his visit, CEO Erck will also meet with officials from the government-wide vaccine import task force (TF). The government has agreed to receive half of the total 40 million doses (enough for 20 million people) of Novavax vaccines by the third quarter. Among the 2.71 million doses of Moderna, Janssen, and others scheduled for import in the second quarter, some Novavax doses are also planned. During this meeting, the government is expected to discuss the supply schedule for the remaining doses. Since Novavax has not yet received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, this meeting may accelerate the approval process.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

An inspection of the previously problematic supply of raw materials and components is also expected. In February, due to the impact of the U.S. export control executive order and other factors, a shortage of raw materials caused an emergency situation for Novavax production. Although the government announced in April that it had resolved the shortage of raw materials such as cell culture bags and cell filtration filters, the need for continuous management of raw material supply remains.

Additionally, Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently revealed in an interview with a media outlet South Korea’s vision to become an “Asian vaccine hub.” This involves receiving technology transfers for vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna in South Korea and supplying vaccines to the Asian region. Acting Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki also stated in a national address that “Our country is actively pursuing plans to develop into a global vaccine hub through domestic vaccine development and expansion of domestic vaccine production infrastructure, and to stabilize domestic vaccine supply in the mid to long term.”

In relation to this, Lee Ki-il, head of the vaccine import TF support team, said during a Q&A session following the national address, “We agree on the necessity of securing technology for mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna, and currently global pharmaceutical companies and domestic pharmaceutical companies are working on technology acquisition through research agreements. If progress is made, the government plans to actively cooperate and support these efforts.”