MP Corporation and DAE Technology Jointly Produce Raw Material for COVID-19 Vaccine 'Covipak'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] MP Corporation (MPCO) announced on the 25th that it will jointly promote the domestic technology transfer and vaccine bulk production of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covivak’ with D.A. Technology. The produced Covivak vaccine bulk will be supplied to domestic and overseas contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).

D.A. Technology will first install two 1,000-liter reactors (cell culture bioreactors) at the Andong Animal Demonstration Support Center for the domestic CMO of Covivak promoted by MPCO and participate in the production of Covivak. In addition, it will participate in the construction of Covivak’s own production plant and facility expansion, which MPCO is reviewing, and supply an additional four reactors.

The 2,000-liter reactors supplied and installed by D.A. Technology in Andong can produce 100 million doses of vaccine bulk annually (one dose equals one vaccination). The two companies plan to build facilities capable of producing more than 300 million doses annually through the additional supply of four reactors.

MPCO is a special purpose company (SPC) established to produce Russian vaccines such as Covivak. In February this year, MPCO secured technology transfer of Covivak, Korean contract manufacturing, exclusive distribution rights in ASEAN countries, and global sales rights through a business agreement with the Russian Chumakov Federal Scientific Research Center, which developed Covivak.

Additionally, MPCO established a joint venture company (JVC) in Korea with Russia’s Pharm Bio-tech, which holds the global licensing and exclusive production rights for Covivak, to operate the vaccine business targeting ASEAN countries and worldwide.

To this end, MPCO completed a pre-review application for non-clinical (toxicity and efficacy) data prior to approval application under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) on the 20th.

A company official stated, "The Covivak vaccine has shown over 80% efficacy even against the highly contagious Delta variant, and it is expected to play a positive role in global vaccine supply. MPCO is steadily preparing for domestic production of the Covivak vaccine, including joint production of vaccine bulk with D.A. Technology."

Covivak is the third officially approved Russian COVID-19 vaccine following ‘Sputnik V’ (viral vector vaccine) and ‘EpiVacCorona’ (recombinant protein vaccine). It is an inactivated vaccine that induces an immune response by injecting a virus killed by heat or chemical methods into the body.

It received emergency use authorization in Russia in February, and safety and immunogenicity have been proven through phase 1/2 clinical trials. Currently, large-scale phase 3 clinical trials are underway in Russia. Among the three vaccines developed in Russia, Covivak is evaluated as the most reliable vaccine due to its significantly lower reinfection rate in terms of preventive efficacy.

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