SK-NovaVax technology transfer contract imminent
High possibility of subcontracting domestic companies
The war for securing the Corona 19 vaccine has entered’Round 2′. Recently, SK Bioscience decided to buy NovaVax’s right to sell and distribute COVID-19 vaccines (license-in). It is analyzed that it is an opportunity to leap from a’vaccine subcontractor’ that makes vaccines for global pharmaceutical companies to a’vaccine sovereign country’ that produces and exports itself. It is also expected that there will be a’dropout effect’ in which domestic CMO companies are subcontracted from SK Bioscience to produce.
An official from SK Bioscience said on the 24th, “We are negotiating with NovaVax over the scope of production, distribution, and sales of vaccines,” and “We have agreed on a large scale that SK Bioscience will take over the copyright in Korea.” He said, “Since we can produce 500 million bottles (dose) per year, we will make the most of these facilities.”
SK Bioscience will supply 20 million people (40 million bottles) of Corona 19 vaccine to the government by the end of this year through technology transfer. If the sales price of NovaVax vaccine is calculated at $20 per bottle, sales of about $800 million (800,000 billion won) are possible. An industry insider said, “I know that the technology of Matrix M, an immune booster essential for protein recombination vaccines, is also progressing. It may be limited to the Corona 19 vaccine, but it is a good opportunity for SK Bioscience, which does not have an immune booster technology. said.
There is also a possibility that the vaccine copyright will be extended to Asia outside Korea. In addition to SK Bioscience in Asia, NovaVax has signed a CMO contract with Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Japan and Serum Institute in India. The two companies plan to digest production in their own country. For this reason, it is analyzed that SK Bioscience can take the copyright of Southeast Asia and Australia, where there is no vaccine CMO facility.
If the production scale of SK Bioscience increases, it is expected to have a drop in water effect for domestic CMO companies. Green Cross, which has strengths in the finished process, is typical. When it signed a CMO contract with NovaVax last year, SK Bioscience decided to produce only the original drug. The finished company has not been established. The finished process refers to the process of filling the produced medicine into a vial (glass container for injection) or a syringe. Green Cross completed the construction of the Ochang factory in Cheongju last year.
It is also a good news that the contract has not yet been signed outside of the US and Europe. NovaVax has signed separate contracts with Papama in the US and Baxter in Europe. In Asia, there is no place that has signed a separate contract. Binex, which can produce undiluted solutions, can also attract attention. Binex has a facility capable of producing recombinant protein vaccines.
Reporter Kim Woo-seop [email protected]
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