S. Korea has become a global production hub to supply generic drugs for Covid-19 treatments to middle- and low-income countries. From vaccines to oral treatments, Korea has been recognized for the production and supply of Covid-19 drugs.
Celltrion announced on the 18th that it has signed a license-in contract with the U.N. Medicine Patent Pool (MPP) for the generic production of Pfizer's oral Covid-19 treatment.
The contract follows Pfizer's decision to expand the accessibility to its Covid-19 pills in low- and middle-income countries through MPP. The license was only granted for 35 companies in 12 countries. In Korea, two pharmaceutical companies, Celltrion and Dongbanf FTL, have obtained the license.
Under the license contract, Celltrion and Dongbang FTL will develop and produce generic drugs and supply them to up to 95 medium- and low-income countries. Celltrion, which is in charge of supplying finished drugs, is planning to complete the development as soon as possible and start commercialization. The finished products will be manufactured by Celltrion Pharmaceutical's Cheongju plant.
By securing the license, Korean companies are able to produce and supply all two generic drugs of oral Covid-19 treatments. In January, three Korean companies, Celltrion, Dongbang FTL, and Hanmi Pharmaceutical have secured a license for MSD's oral Covid-19 treatment.
Korea has also grown into global production hub by manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines on consignment.
Starting with the AstraZeneca vaccine, SK Bioscience has produced Novavax vaccine, becoming the center of Asian vaccine production.
Samsung Biologics currently produces and supplies Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines. It also produces antibody Covid-19 treatments of Lilly, GSK, and AstraZeneca. Hanmi Pharmaceutical will produce a plasmid DNA COVID-19 vaccine 'Zycov-D,' developed by India's Zydus Cadila, on consignment. (ANI/Global Economic)
( With inputs from ANI )
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