(From left) JW Biotech Vice President Seung-il Kim, Vice Chairman Jae-hyung Ahn, Zimbabwe Minister of Health Douglas Mombeshora, and TDI Holdings Chairman Kono are posing for a commemorative photo. / Photo by JW Biotech
GW Biotech announced on the 20th that it visited Africa and met with Dr. Douglas Mombeshora, Minister of Health of Zimbabwe, and Armindo Tiago, Minister of Health of Mozambique, to discuss vaccine supply plans within Africa.
This visit was a reciprocal trip following the signing of an MOU related to vaccine supply with Chairman Gono of Zimbabwe TD Holdings at GW Biotech's headquarters in Seoul last July, which opened the door for bilateral exchanges. The meeting with local ministers was arranged through Chairman Gono of TD Holdings and served as an opportunity to discuss detailed cooperation areas between the two countries.
At the meeting, both parties mutually acknowledged the poor state of essential vaccine supply infrastructure in Africa for diseases such as malaria, cholera, and yellow fever, and agreed to jointly address the vaccine shortage and imbalance issues faced by Africa. They explored ways to expand vaccine supply bases by directly providing live attenuated vaccines (such as polio, encephalitis, and rabies) to Africa through GW Biotech and the Chumakov Institute network.
Furthermore, they had in-depth discussions on plans to build local platforms for distributing other necessary vaccines in Africa, including raising Africa’s capacity to independently develop vaccines by utilizing the live attenuated vaccine source technology transferred from the Chumakov Institute to GW Biotech.
Additionally, they reviewed plans for GW Biotech to supply pharmaceuticals and bio-medical equipment currently imported into Africa via third countries such as India and China, as well as the establishment of local pharmaceutical and vaccine-related factories within Africa.
Seung-il Kim, Vice President of GW Biotech, stated, “Africa has a high interest in the advanced K-vaccine and bio technologies. Since imports of Korean bio-medical products have surged in Africa after COVID-19, and the related market continues to grow, the vaccine source technology and scientific equipment supply business transferred to GW Biotech are expected to accelerate bilateral exchanges.”
Meanwhile, earlier in July, key officials including Gideon Gono, Chairman of Zimbabwe TD Holdings, and Chaurai Muzanenhamo, CEO of Kanyephi, visited GW Biotech’s headquarters in Seoul. At that time, they submitted a Letter of Intent (LOI) to purchase 1.5 million doses of the CoviHeal vaccine produced by GW Biotech’s subsidiary, Curable. They also reached an agreement to establish a joint venture for vaccine sales and development, completing a bilateral agreement for global distribution.
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