S.Korea in talks with mRNA vaccine makers to make up to 1 bln doses -govt official

Hanmi Science

05/07/2021 06:10

(Adds more comments)
    By Sangmi Cha
    SEOUL, July 5 (Reuters) - South Korea is in talks with mRNA
vaccine makers including Pfizer  PFE.N  and Moderna  MRNA.O  to
produce COVID-19 shots in the country and is ready to offer the
capacity to make up to 1 billion doses immediately, a senior
government official said.
    The plan, if agreed, would help ease tight global supply of
COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in Asia which lags North America
and Europe in vaccine rollouts, and put South Korea a step
closer to its ambition to become a major vaccine manufacturing
centre.
    South Korea already has deals to locally produce three
coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca  AZN.L /Oxford
University, Novavax  NVAX.O , and Russia. It also has a vaccine
bottling and packaging deal with Moderna.
    "We've been holding frequent talks with big pharmaceutical
companies to produce mRNA vaccines," Lee Kang-ho, director
general for the global vaccine hub committee under South Korea's
health ministry, told Reuters in an interview.
    "There are only a few mRNA vaccine developers - Pfizer,
Moderna, CureVac and BioNTech. Thus there's a limit to how much
they can produce to meet global demand... South Korea is keen to
help by offering its facilities and skilled human resources,"
Lee said.
    It's not immediately clear how advanced these talks are and
whether and when a deal will be agreed.
    BioNTech  22UAy.DE  declined to comment, Moderna and CureVac
 5CV.DE  did not reply to Reuters' requests for comments.
    A Pfizer spokesperson said the company is making efforts to
enhance its COVID-19 vaccine supply chain but added "we do not
have anything specific to announce at this time."
    Lee declined to name local vaccine makers which have the
capacity to produce mRNA vaccines immediately, but a government
source said they include Hanmi Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd
 128940.KS  and Quratis Co Ltd.
    Hanmi confirmed that it has a big capacity reserved for
Sanofi's  SASY.PA  diabetes drug and it can be used for COVID-19
vaccine production as the Sanofi project has stalled.
    "We happen to have this facility available right now because
our clinical trial (with Sanofi) was discontinued in the middle
of last year," Kim Soo-jin, senior vice president of Hanmi, told
Reuters. 
    "It’s very timely that we have a fully ready, GMP,
state-of-the-art facility available," she said, referring to
good manufacturing practice.
    Quratis, which makes a tuberculosis vaccine, said its new
factory built last year can now be used for mRNA vaccine
production.
    Shares in Hanmi erased early losses and rose nearly 4% on
Monday after the Reuters report.
    
    COLLABORATION WITH WHO
    South Korea has stepped up its effort to produce more
vaccines since U.S. President Joe Biden in May agreed with South
Korean President Moon Jae-in on a comprehensive partnership on
COVID-19 vaccines.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2N80E2
    Lee said his team is having frequent video conference calls
with the vaccine makers and the World Health Organization (WHO).
    WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Reuters the organisation
is "talking with South Korea and other countries," but did not
elaborate.
    The WHO said last month it will set up a hub in South Africa
to manufacture mRNA vaccines within 9-12 months that will give
companies from poor and middle-income countries the know-how and
licenses to produce COVID-19 vaccines.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2O34DP    
    Lee said mRNA vaccine makers may be reluctant to share their
technology, but they can take advantage of South Korea's raw
material suppliers to address a global shortage of such
ingredients as lipids, nucleotides and capping reagents.
    "They're capable of manufacturing and developing such raw
materials to help vaccine makers... and the South Korean
government is committed to provide all necessary support
including financial and administrative aid."
    Lee said the country also has a capacity for at least
another 500 million doses of fill-and-finish vaccines apart from
the deal Moderna announced with Samsung BioLogics  207940.KS  in
May.

 (Reporting by Sangmi Cha in Seoul; Additional reporting by
Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Michael Erman in New York and
Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
 ((sangmi.cha@thomsonreuters.com;))