Hankook Korus Pharm, which won a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) deal to produce Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, said it has completed the formation of a domestic consortium.

Consisting of eight firms, including Hankook Korus Pharm, the consortium can manufacture 650 million doses of Sputnik V annually, the company said.

The other seven vaccine manufacturers in the consortium are Andong Animal Cell Validation Support Center, Binex, Boryung Biopharma, ISU Abxis, CKD Bio, Quratis, and Humedix.

Hankook Korus Pharm said it and seven other Korean manufacturers could produce up to 650 million doses of Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V annually.
Hankook Korus Pharm said it and seven other Korean manufacturers could produce up to 650 million doses of Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V annually.

In November, Hankook Korus clinched the CMO deal with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to manufacture 150 million doses of the Russian vaccines per year. As the RDIF requested additional 500 million doses or more, Hankook Korus’s parent firm GL Rapha decided to form a domestic consortium to meet the demand.

With RDIF officials visiting Korea on Friday, Hankook Korus will conduct the final validation and establish a mass-production system.

Hankook Korus brushed off some critics’ claims that the company may not meet the annual target of producing 150 million doses.

On top of 150 million doses, the other seven groups of the consortium can manufacture up to 500 million doses per year, Hankook Korus said.

The Sputnik V vaccine's Korean consortium is to launch in the second quarter officially, Hankook Korus said. Details such as the allocation of each institution's roles in the consortium have not yet been confirmed, it added.

“We expect to announce the launch of the consortium in May or June,” an official at Hankook Korus said. “We will disclose each organization’s role later.”

Industry watchers said the eight companies are likely to divide their roles to produce drug substances (DS) and drug products (DP) separately.

Earlier, the Russian inspection team visited Binex’s plant in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, to tour Korean production facilities.

Binex currently has 7,000-liter production lines at its Osong plant, including two 1,000-liter incubators and one 5,000-liter incubator. Binex is expected to use a 5,000-liter incubator to manufacture the Russian vaccine. Observers said Binex could occupy the largest share of drug substance production in the consortium.

Asked how many doses of Sputnik V vaccine Binex could manufacture annually, an official at Binex said it was difficult to offer an exact figure.

“This is because biopharmaceutical agents yield a variety of production outcomes and those numbers are mostly confidential due to the characteristics of the product,” the official said.

It is difficult to say conclusively how many doses we can produce per year, the official added, saying the company will come up with more exact estimates after seeing the product.

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