Establishment of Vaccine Validation Support Center by Next Year

Jeong Seung-il, Vice Minister of Industry, to Visit Hwasun Microbial Demonstration Support Center on the 24th

Jung Seung-il, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government will establish a large-scale Vaccine Demonstration Support Center by next year to support the rapid commercialization of vaccine candidate substances.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 24th that Vice Minister Jeong Seung-il will visit the Microbial Demonstration Support Center in Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do.

Vice Minister Jeong will check the development trends of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines and identify difficulties. He will also review the current status of the Vaccine Demonstration Support Center under construction and discuss future plans.

Previously, since 2017, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has been promoting the establishment of a center to support the rapid commercialization of vaccine candidate substances. With a total project cost of 186.5 billion KRW, the center will be established by next year.

The Microbial Demonstration Support Center in Hwasun-gun will support the manufacturing of synthetic antigen vaccines and DNA vaccines.

By the end of this month, pilot-scale (50L) vaccine production facilities will be installed at the Hwasun center. Services for non-clinical sample production and process development will be provided to domestic companies developing vaccine candidates.

Additionally, in the first half of next year, large-scale production facilities of 200L and 1,000L will be established and GMP certification obtained to support clinical product manufacturing for vaccine development companies.

The Ministry supports small and medium-sized bio companies and startups that develop vaccine candidates but face difficulties in actual product manufacturing due to facility investment costs through the center.

It supports small-scale sample production and process development necessary for clinical trials and provides large-scale mass production support in emergencies. This is expected to help resolve pandemic situations.

In Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, an Animal Cell Demonstration Support Center will be established to support the manufacturing of virus vector vaccines and others.

Vice Minister Jeong said, "We will cooperate among government ministries to support systems and infrastructure, actively identify and resolve difficulties faced by companies during development, and provide continuous support." He added, "Successfully developing and producing therapeutics and vaccines will be an opportunity to secure the global competitiveness of the domestic biohealth industry such as 'K-Bio.'"

The Ministry plans to expedite the establishment of vaccine production facilities within the Vaccine Demonstration Support Center through the third supplementary budget. It will ensure that contract manufacturing and process development support for vaccine development companies proceed without delay.

Earlier, on the 3rd, the Ministry submitted a 4.9 billion KRW budget for vaccine development infrastructure to the National Assembly as part of the third supplementary budget proposal.

Vice Minister Jeong said, "To successfully develop COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, it is essential for industry, academia, research institutes, and hospitals to cooperate rather than individual companies racing alone." He added, "The government will also actively support resolving corporate difficulties through inter-ministerial cooperation."

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