The lack of a vaccine hub strategy was revealed as the government and Samsung Biologics demanded that Moderna's domestic supply of contract vaccines failed.
Kang Do-tae, 1st General Coordinator (Second Vice Minister of Welfare) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said as a result of a request for domestic supply of finished products in September for Samsung Bio consignment production during a visit to Moderna on the 17th, he said, “It would be good to understand that there are several approval processes such as quality inspection until the finished product is produced. It's the same." He replied, 'September production is impossible'.
Welfare Minister Kwon Deok-cheol announced on the 5th that “Samsung Biologics has been planning the trial production of the Moderna messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine from the end of August” at the government building as “K-Global Vaccine Hub Vision and Strategy”.
On the 9th, Minister Kwon announced at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Moderna's supply would be cut in half in August, and that Moderna's emergency dispatch of negotiators was a countermeasure.
On the 28th of last month, Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil said, "The previous day, Minister Kwon Deok-cheol had an emergency video conference with Vice Chairman John Roper Moderna and the head of the production facility, and it was said that 1.3 million to 1.4 million episodes would be provided next week. It is said that 8.5 million episodes in August will arrive as scheduled,” he revealed through KBS Radio, and announced it as a direct agreement between Minister Kwon and Moderna.
At the Korea-US summit on May 22, President Moon Jae-in made the site of signing an MOU for vaccine consignment production contract between Samsung and Moderna as a result of the 'Vaccine Hub', and started guaranteeing between Samsung BioLogics CEO John Lim and CEO Stefan Vansel Moderna.
As a delegation to the U.S. together with the Blue House aide, Deputy Minister Kang was a delegation to the United States on the 13th as a result of the US Modonana negotiations. '," he said at a briefing on the results of the negotiations.
At 10:30 am on the 17th before the government announcement, the stock price of Samsung Biologics rose by 21,000 won (2.14%) from the previous day to over 1004,000 won, and soared 17% in August alone.
Lee Kang-ho, head of the Global Vaccine Hub Promotion Division of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said in the 'k-vaccine hub strategy' on the 5th, "The Korean Intellectual Property Office held a patent briefing session for 200 institutions through a rough analysis of mRNA vaccines last month. We plan to support research that can evade existing patents,” he said.
A bio expert anonymously told the Korean economy on the same day, "A strategy to analyze and avoid the mRNA vaccine-related patent map applied by Pfizer or Moderna is the key to localizing the mRNA vaccine platform."
Regarding the parole of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the Blue House announced on the 13th that "there is a public demand regarding the establishment of a global semiconductor supply chain, follow-up measures for the Korea-US summit, and the supply and demand of a COVID-19 vaccine. We expect that it will play a role in meeting them."
The parole of Vice Chairman Lee emerged as a decision maker on the 130 trillion won investment Samsung Electronics secured as cash assets while serving as an unregistered, unpaid director at Samsung Group guilty of stock price manipulation to inherit Samsung Group ownership.
At ST Pharm, where President Moon was invited to the 'K-Global Vaccine Hub Reporting Contest' at the Blue House on the 5th, Yang Joo-seong, head of the mRNA development department, talked about the development of candidate substances in an interview with Chosun Biz, saying, “I will submit an IND within this year, and I will submit an IND within the next year. We expect to enter phase 1 clinical trials in the quarter.” He said, “We should have made a decision by last July (we didn’t) because it takes about 10 to 12 months to bring in the equipment needed to build production facilities (for production in the second half of next year),” he said. said 'impossible'.
Regarding the 5-capping RNA synthesis method patent, which is a 'domestic patent', ST Pharm said, "We are preparing to apply for a US patent. It is expected to apply for a patent sometime next year.”
ST Pharm recently introduced the ‘LNP’ method, which is a core mRNA technology, from Genevant in the U.S. If we secure our own technology, we can start discussions again based on this.”
Minister Kwon announced on the 5th that 'the 3rd phase of domestic vaccine clinical trials will support 167.7 billion won this year' as a strategy for the k vaccine.