South Korean Government To Build New Flu Vaccine Plant As Part Of Campaign For "Vaccine Independence" From Global Giants

SEOUL - To avoid a recurrence of last year's challenge to secure flu vaccines during the A/H1N1 pandemic, South Korea's government has initiated a drive to bolster the nation's independent capacity to produce these vaccines.

The campaign is simultaneously aimed at phasing out Seoul's current dependence on international vaccine makers including Switzerland's Roche and the United Kingdom's GlaxoSmithKline.

Leaders at Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said they are now accepting applications from local and foreign pharmaceutical firms interested in building and operating a vaccine facility in Andong City, about 260 kilometers south of Seoul.

Instead of egg-based vaccines, which usually take six months for production, the new plant will develop cell-culture vaccines, which only require three or four months.

"We are trying to build the Andong plant as part of our effort to better protect our people from flu threats in upcoming years by supplying them with flu vaccines at a pace faster than we did last year," a ministry official said in an interview with PharmAsia News. "We are now collecting bidding applications, and the winner is expected to be announced in October." Other officials said the new plant could begin turning out vaccines in 2014.

Currently, Korean firm Green Cross has a vaccine plant that has an annual capacity of 50 million doses - all based on egg-based production.

The government-supported plant, located southwest of Seoul, opened and began test production in early July 2009. The operation is part of government efforts - initiated in 2005 - to better fight various strains of flu by fostering the construction of domestic vaccine plants instead of importing vaccines (Also see "Green Cross Becomes First Korean Pharma To Export Flu Vaccine" - Scrip, 11 Jun, 2010.).

More Korean Firms Starting To Focus On Vaccines

After witnessing a remarkable surge in sales of Green Cross vaccine products, and in the outfit's overall rankings in the Korean pharmaceutical firmament, during the flu pandemic last year, other Korean firms have shifted their focus onto the vaccine market. Green Cross was catapulted from the No. 5 position to No. 2 during the pandemic (Also see "Demand For A/H1N1 Vaccine Catapults Green Cross Into No. 2 Spot In Korea; Company Ramps Up Biosimilar Pipeline" - Scrip, 2 Feb, 2010.).

Last month, South Korea's SK Chemicals signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S.-based vaccine maker Xcellerex to produce cell-culture biologics in the future.

"Under the MOU, we will positively study and consider development and production of the cell-culture vaccines," an SK official said.

As the vaccine sector heats up, industry watchers predicted that Green Cross and Celltrion would be among the bidders to operate the new facility being planned by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy; some said that leading conglomerate Samsung Group could also join the competition following the firm's announcement in May that it was moving to enter the healthcare sector, particularly biosimilars and medical devices (Also see "Samsung Group Set To Enter Biosimilars Market With $1.9 Billion Investment" - Scrip, 17 May, 2010.).

Government To Invest In Cell-Culture Vaccines

In a related development, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is planning a separate program to support the vaccine industry. The health ministry will invest a total of KRW 11 billion ($9.34 million) in the development of cell-culture vaccines and other R&D. "Of the total, we are planning to invest about KRW 5 billion ($4.24 million) to help develop cell-culture vaccines," said Kim Kun-Hong, director of the Department of Translational Research, Korea Health Industry Development Institute.

- Peter Chang ([email protected])