SK bioscience has begun exporting its cell-cultured influenza vaccine, SKY Cellflu, signaling the company's expansion into the Southeast Asian market and its entry into the southern hemisphere.

SK bioscience said Thursday that it has shipped about 440,000 doses of SKY Cellflu to its Thai partner Biogenetech from L-House in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. The vaccine supplied this time is a flu strain expected to be a pandemic in the southern hemisphere in 2024, as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.

This is the first time SKY Cellflu has been exported to the southern hemisphere. Based on the shipment, SK bioscience expects to expand sales to the southern hemisphere, including the Southeast Asian market, in the future, the company added.

The recent shipment to Thailand is expected to serve as a positive example of SKY Cellflu’s gradual increase in share in the Thai flu vaccine market. The company explained that its entry into the procurement market of international organizations, such as UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and individual countries enables global market expansion.

SKY Cellful has received product licenses in 12 countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Chile, and is obtaining licenses in 10 more countries.

According to global market research firm Grand View Research, the global flu vaccine market is expected to expand at an annual average of 6.98 percent to reach $12.58 billion by 2030 due to the implementation of free flu vaccinations in various countries and increased vaccine awareness.

SK bioscience is also accelerating its glocalization project to build a vaccine hub to ensure stable supply to the global market. In July last year, it signed an MOU with the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), a state-owned pharmaceutical company under the Thai government, to transfer SKY Cellflu's finished product production technology to a local factory and commercialize it.

"The export of SKY Cellflu to Thailand is a stepping stone to expanding our global market beyond the Southeast Asian and Southern Hemisphere markets," SK bioscience CEO Ahn Jae-yong said. "We will develop blockbuster new vaccines, such as the next-generation pneumococcal vaccine, which is scheduled to enter phase 3 clinical trials this year, and diversify the market for existing products to improve mid-term performance."

SKY Cellflu is the world's first cell-cultured influenza vaccine to receive WHO Pre-qualification (PQ) certification. SK bioscience resumed production of Sky Cellflu last year after a three-year hiatus following the pandemic. It returned to the market by winning the national mandatory vaccination tender for the 2023-2024 season.