독 Satorius, $300 Million Bio Facility Investment in Incheon Songdo... "Global Vaccine Hub" (Comprehensive)

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum attended the preliminary event of the 2nd Global Vaccine Hub Promotion Committee held at Post Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 2nd, signed an MOU for investment attraction with Sartorius, and took a commemorative photo. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] Sartorius, a global company in the vaccine raw materials and equipment sector from Germany, will invest $300 million in Songdo, Incheon over the next three years. This investment is the second large-scale investment by a global company following the $52.5 million investment decision by US-based Cytiva in September.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum chaired the '2nd Global Vaccine Hub Promotion Committee' at 2 p.m. on the 2nd at the Post Tower in Seoul, where he disclosed the details of this investment and announced plans to nurture the domestic vaccine and raw materials industry into the 'second semiconductor industry' through the 'K-Global Vaccine Hub' policy.

This committee meeting, held for the second time since its launch on August 5, was convened to review the progress of the government's key policy, 'K-Global Vaccine Hub,' and to discuss detailed plans by sector.

First, Sartorius from Germany, along with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Incheon Metropolitan City, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to invest $300 million in Songdo, Incheon over the next three years. Last November, Sartorius submitted a letter of intent (LOI) to invest $100 million in Incheon, but through this MOU, the investment scale has been expanded to $300 million.

In particular, Sartorius plans to produce various raw materials in Korea, including not only single-use bags but also cell culture media, pharmaceutical filters, and membranes, making Korea a hub for global exports. Korea is planned to become another production hub alongside North America and Europe.

Lee Kang-ho, head of the Global Vaccine Hub Promotion Team, emphasized, "This investment, following the $52.5 million investment decision by US-based Cytiva in September, is another global vaccine raw materials company establishing production and ancillary facilities in Korea, which is expected to make a significant contribution to the government's 'K-Global Vaccine Hub Strategy.'"

Government: "Nurturing the domestic vaccine and raw materials industry as the 'second semiconductor industry'"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The government held a public-private joint agreement ceremony for win-win cooperation between large and small-to-medium enterprises in the vaccine and raw materials sectors. Vaccine companies such as Celltrion, SK Bioscience, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, GC Green Cross, ST Pharm, Samsung Biologics, and LG Chem participated, along with raw materials and equipment companies including Icell, Dongshin Glass Industry, Jeonghyun Plant, and Weatech.

An agreement ceremony among 10 related organizations was also held to accelerate the early realization of the global vaccine hub. The government formed the '10 Major Related Organization Heads Council,' a leadership-level cooperative body involving all related organizations in research and development (R&D), finance, industry, and export support for the first time in Korea, and plans to hold meetings at least once quarterly to support the promotion of the global vaccine hub.

Additionally, the committee reviewed the progress of the 'K-Global Vaccine Hub' policy announced by the government last August and discussed detailed plans by sector.

Regarding the plan to nurture world-class vaccine and raw materials companies, the government decided to utilize 18 billion KRW secured in this year's supplementary budget to support vaccine contract manufacturing and in-house production for vaccine and raw materials companies that have investment plans but lack sufficient funding, selecting 14 companies as final support targets.

Among the 14 companies, vaccine companies include ST Pharm, Quratis, Korea BMI, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, HK BioInnovation, SeedMogen, Humedix, Zetema, and Boran Pharma, while raw materials companies include Hanmi Precision Chemical, Amicogen, LMS, Cellid, and Icell.

The government plans to actively support approximately 6.3 trillion KRW worth of private facility investments underway or planned by 2024 to nurture the domestic vaccine and raw materials industry as the 'second semiconductor industry.' To this end, the government will create a vaccine industry ecosystem favorable for business and boldly improve unreasonable regulations that are out of touch with reality.

Furthermore, the government will establish an 'Analysis and Patent Team' within the Global Vaccine Hub Promotion Team, a support organization of the joint committee of related ministries, to actively support global patent issues related to the vaccine industry. Utilizing world-class vaccine pharmaceutical manufacturing and quality management standard (GMP) public manufacturing facilities (such as in Andong and Hwasun), support for vaccine commercialization will be strengthened for companies without their own facilities. In addition, the government will actively support the growth of the domestic vaccine and raw materials industry as an export-driven sector.

Lee said, "Globally, interest in vaccines is high and efforts to attract vaccine factories are accelerating. If domestic companies gain competitiveness through the global vaccine hub, there will be groundbreaking progress in the biopharmaceutical field based on vaccines."

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