SK Pharmteco Selected as a Key Company in the US COVID-19 Response

Overview of SK Pharmteco's production facility located in Virginia

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] SK has been selected as a key pharmaceutical and bio company by the U.S. government for its response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The U.S. government formed a consortium consisting of domestic production corporations and companies with reliable technology to urgently respond to COVID-19, and SK Group's local pharmaceutical and bio production corporation was included.

On the 20th, SK Inc. announced that Ampac, the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production corporation of SK Pharmteco, was selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a project to secure essential medicines for COVID-19 response. It was chosen as a core supplier for securing essential medicines for COVID-19 response. An SK official explained, "Due to confidentiality agreements, we cannot disclose the exact supplied materials, but it can be understood as supplying the fabric if you say you are making a silk dress."

According to SK, this project aims to address medicine shortages during outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, with the U.S. government providing a budget of up to 1 trillion won.

Ampac participates in this project through a consortium led by FLOW, a U.S. nonprofit organization related to essential medicines. The consortium also includes Civica and M4ALL from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ampac produces APIs at its facilities in the U.S. and supplies them to FLOW. FLOW uses these for the production of essential medicines for COVID-19 treatment and also allocates them as strategic stockpile APIs.

SK Inc. owns API production corporations in Europe and Korea, including Ampac, and established the integrated corporation SK Pharmteco in Sacramento, California, in January this year to strengthen synergy.

SK Pharmteco CEO Aslam Malik stated, "We plan to add API production facilities at the Virginia plant."

SK Inc. said that the industry evaluates Ampac as a verified company capable of independently supplying high-quality APIs stably, thanks to its participation in this consortium.

SK Inc. added that Ampac's continuous process technology is regarded as a key element for reducing waste and improving productivity, and demand is gradually expanding.

An SK Inc. official said, "SK is actively fostering its bio and pharmaceutical business as a growth engine," and added, "We expect that participation in this consortium will contribute to the sustainable growth of the API business as well as the creation of social value."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.