ST Pharm's chief proposes K-bio form consortium to deliver consigned vaccines

Korean companies need to form a consortium to ensure safe and early delivery of mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines facing dire shortage around the world, ST Pharm’s chief executive Kim Kyung-jin said.

During an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper on Monday, Kim said Korea can be consigned to produce vaccines for international makers including Moderna but it would be difficult for a single company to deal with the entire value chain from production to delivery due to technology and facility limitations.

A consortium of three to four companies dedicated to each task can be a solution and the government can play a role in determining consortium member candidates because the industry is short on time, Kim argued.

According to Kim’s suggestion, the mRNA vaccine CMO consortium needs large pharmas like Hanmi Pharmaceutical and SK Bioscience that can produce enzymes, raw materials necessary for the synthesis of mRNA shots. And then the produced enzymes can be shipped to ST Pharm for bulk vaccine production, while vaccine filling and packaging can be handled by GC Pharm. Cold-chain delivery can be performed by Yongma Logistics.

The consortium aims to ensure each company focuses on what they do best in collaboration with others to maximize productivity, Kim emphasized.

He also called for a quick response from the government because it is difficult for self-interest seeking private companies to voluntarily form a consortium in an early time. Even if a consortium is formed and production preparation begins right now, it will take at least eight months before supply through facility expansion and post-production regulatory approval, he projected.

[Photo provided by ST Pharm]

Kim said ST Pharm is planning to increase production capability at its Banwol vaccine factory from 20,000 doses of mRNA vaccine per month to 200,000 doses by May.

Additional capex will be possible to build a second factory by the first half of next year to ramp up the dose production level to 1 million per month if government-arranged consortium takes off.

ST Pharm is a Dong-A Socio Group company founded in 2008 to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients for finished drug makers on a contract basis. The company has generated profits for many years through its supply of HCV therapy APIs to Gilead. Since sales began to slow due to a reduced patient population, the company turned its eyes to CMO business for mRNA vaccine makers.

It is a big three company in the CDMO market for oligonucleotide treatments which are in the spotlight as next-generation therapies along with Japan’s Nitto Denko Avecia and Agilent in the United States.

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