Boosted by encouraging findings of multinational drugmakers’ studies on the Covid-19 vaccine and treatment, their partner firms in Korea are drawing close attention from investors.
SK Bioscience, Samsung Biologics, and GC Pharma have recently clinched deals to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
Professor Andrew Pollard of the University of Oxford, who is jointly working on a Covid-19 vaccine with AstraZeneca, said that his research team would release the phase-3 clinical trial results on the vaccine candidate before Christmas in an interview with the BBC on Thursday.
The upbeat outlook on AstraZeneca’s investigational vaccine turned investors’ attention to SK Bioscience. The Korean company signed a letter of intent (LOI) with AstraZeneca and the Ministry of Health and Welfare in July to supply AZD1222 domestically and internationally.
Under the LOI, SK Bioscience will participate in manufacturing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, and the health and welfare ministry will help the two firms manufacture and export the vaccine swiftly.
A successful development of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 will make SK Bioscience one of the key suppliers of the Covid-19 vaccine in Korea, observers said.
Samsung Biologics also made headlines when it said it signed a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) agreement with Eli Lilly to manufacture an antibody treatment for Covid-19.
The company revealed that the multinational pharmaceutical firm that Samsung Biologics had signed a CMO deal in May was Eli Lilly and that the deal was about manufacturing a Covid-19 drug.
Pharmaceutical industry sources said Samsung Biologics must have disclosed the Covid-19 supply contract probably because Lilly was positive about a successful clinical outcome of its drug.
The FDA on Nov. 10 granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for Lilly’s investigational antibody therapy, bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555), to treat mild to moderate Covid-19 in adults and pediatric patients 12 years or older.
Lilly has been saying that it prepared for a global supply network for bamlanivimab.
On Tuesday, Samsung Biologics said it delivered the initial batch of Covid-19 antibody treatment to Lilly in October. Lilly has reportedly begun administering the treatment in Covid-19 patients in the U.S.
GC Pharma is promoting its name as a CMO business entity for the global supply of the Covid-19 vaccine.
In October, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) picked GC Pharma as one of the Covid-19 vaccine CMO suppliers.
Under the CEPI’s principle to diversify the global supply of Covid-19 vaccines, GC Pharma will start producing vaccines from March 2021 to help CEPI achieve the goal of manufacturing 500 million doses of vaccines.
GC Pharma will be in charge of the “Fill & Finish” process, filling the produced fluid into vials and finishing them. The vaccine manufacturing is reportedly to occur in a factory in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, which started to operate this year. The factory is capable of manufacturing up to 400 million doses per year.
The CEPI’s selection of CMO suppliers was a mutual agreement preceding an official contract.
GC Pharma did not disclose the name of the vaccine and how many doses it will supply.
GC Pharma said when a successfully developed vaccine comes out in the market among various candidates secured by the CEPI, GC Pharma and the vaccine developer will sign a bilateral contract.
“The CEPI’s selection of CMO suppliers is more like a pre-emptive measure to distribute vaccines around the world stably. As nothing has been finalized, details can change,” an official at GC Pharma said. “The details of a contract will come out in early next year when a vaccine development is completed.”
Chong Kun Dang’s shares shot up recently after Lilly’s Olumiant (baricitinib) obtained emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA.
On Thursday, the FDA granted EUA for baricitinib in combination with remdesivir to treat Covid-19 in hospitalized adults and pediatric patients aged two or older who require supplemental oxygen, invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
Last year, Chong Kun Dang signed a deal with Lilly to sell Olumiant in Korea jointly.
After the FDA’s approval, shares of Chong Kun Dang and its affiliated companies surged on Friday.
The stock price of Chong Kun Dang closed at 189,500 won ($170.71) on Friday, up 17.7 percent from 161,000 won on the previous day.
Shares of both Chong Kun Dang Holdings and Chong Kun Dang increased by a daily limit of 30 percent and closed at 130,500 won and 53,500 won, respectively.
An official at Chong Kun Dang said the market’s heated reaction baffled him.
“We don’t have any official comment on a Covid-19 treatment. We have not received any message from Lilly regarding its winning of EUA (for baricitinib),” he said.