Under the agreement, the South Korean company will help the country prepare for future pandemics by developing a homegrown vaccine. — Bloomberg
SEOUL: SK bioscience Co, a pharmaceutical affiliate of South Korea’s SK Group, says it has joined hands with Thailand’s state-run drugmaker to build vaccine manufacturing and development infrastructure in the South-East Asian country.
SK bioscience and Thailand’s Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday.
Under the agreement, the South Korean company will help the country prepare for future pandemics by developing a homegrown vaccine.
As a first step, SK bioscience said it will conclude a separate deal to transfer its technology for SKYCellflu, a cell culture-based influenza vaccine, while GPO will produce the vaccine and use it for the nation’s inoculation programmes.
Thailand is one of the biggest pharmaceutical markets in South-East Asia, along with Indonesia and Vietnam, with its revenue expected to grow to 10.4 trillion won (US$8bil or RM37bil) in 2027 from 7.5 trillion won (RM27bil) in 2021.
This is according to data from the German market analysis firm Statista.
SK bioscience said the latest MoU with Thailand was part of its “globalisation” business strategy.
It is aimed at helping foreign countries with inadequate access to vaccines secure reliable production facilities. — Yonhap/The Korea Herald/ANN
