Enzychem Lifesciences Advances Large-Scale Production of COVID pDNA Vaccine

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] Engchem Life Sciences announced on the 16th that it is promoting the mass production of the COVID-19 plasmid DNA (pDNA) vaccine. Engchem Life Sciences plans to supply the vaccine worldwide, starting with Southeast Asia and South America.

In November last year, Engchem Life Sciences signed a manufacturing license technology transfer agreement with the Indian global pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila (Zydus) for the COVID-19 pDNA vaccine ZyCoV-D. At the end of last year, Engchem Life Sciences also secured detailed technical data from Zydus, including the manufacturing process, raw and subsidiary materials, clinical and non-clinical data of ZyCoV-D.

Based on the vaccine manufacturing technology acquired from Zydus, Engchem Life Sciences signed a technology transfer and facility preparation contract last month with Hanmi Pharmaceutical for the contract manufacturing of ZyCoV-D vaccine DS (drug substance). Hanmi Pharmaceutical is currently carrying out preparatory work for the mass production of the ZyCoV-D vaccine under this contract. Both companies aim to produce approximately 80 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine annually.

Engchem Life Sciences will supply the COVID-19 vaccine, contract-manufactured by Hanmi Pharmaceutical, to overseas markets. In November last year, Engchem Life Sciences already secured exclusive sales rights from Zydus for eight countries in Southeast Asia and South America, including South Korea. These countries mainly have high vaccine demand but lack distribution infrastructure. Engchem Life Sciences is currently proceeding with individual country regulatory approval processes.

Last month, Engchem Life Sciences registered as a vaccine manufacturing and supply company on the vaccine raw and subsidiary materials brokerage platform "COVAX Marketplace," operated by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Engchem Life Sciences expects to supply the ZyCoV-D vaccine through COVAX.

An Engchem Life Sciences official stated, "Starting from the second half of this year, we plan to prioritize supplying the COVID-19 vaccine to Southeast Asian and South American countries," and added, "We will swiftly pursue WHO emergency use listing to supply the COVID-19 vaccine worldwide through international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), UNICEF, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)."

He continued, "DNA vaccines have a longer immune maintenance period than existing COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines and are advantageous in storage and distribution," adding, "The price per dose is about 20-30% of that of mRNA vaccines and is effective in responding to variant viruses."

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