● SK Chemical`sVaccine Research Center Preparing to Advance into Global Market Kim Seung-hee, Minister of Food and Drug Safety, visits the R&D center.
- Encourage companies striving to develop vaccines and secure Korea`s advance into the global bio market
- Discuss support for bio industry and regulatory reforms
The Minister of Food and Drug Safety visited several of Korea`s top pharmaceutical and bio R&D sites to offer words of encouragement. Korea`s pharmaceutical and bio industries are emerging as new growth engines of the future.
SK Chemical said that Kim Seung-hee, Minister of Food and Drug Safety, visited the SK Chemical`s Vaccine Research Center of on February 19 to examine the R&D status of various vaccine products currently underway, and to hear the comments and concerns of SK Chemical staff..
Topics discussed during this visit included △SK Chemical’s bio investments and plans to make inroads into the global bio market, △the necessity of private-public cooperation for vaccine development, and △the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s efforts to reform regulations.
Kim Seung-hee, Minister of Food and Drug Safety, was accompanied by Kim Jin-seok, Chief Manager of the Biopharmaceuticals and Herbal Medicine Bureau, and Kim Yeong-ok, Chief of Operations of the Biopharmaceutical Policy Division.
“We will capitalize on our technical know-how—which SK Chemical has long demonstrated by introducing Korea`s first pharmaceutical drug, first botanical drug, and first cell culture influenza vaccine—to secure Korea`s self-sufficiency in the production of major vaccines, which we are currently importing,” said Han Byeong-ro, CEO of SK Chemical. “We will work hard to elevate the status of the Korean bio industry.”
“I`d like to thank all of you who work hard every day to establish Korea as a self-sufficient player in the global vaccine market, despite difficult circumstances,” said Kim Seung-hee, Minister of Food and Drug Safety. “I will do my best to solve problems in the current bio field and discuss reforming regulations that stifle progress.”
After his morning visit to the R&D Center, Minister Kim Seung-hee visited the SK Chemical Complex in Pangyo, where he joined leaders from academia, government, and industry at the ‘Bio Medicine Regulation Regulatory Reform Indaba to discuss the direction of development of the domestic bio pharmaceutical industry.
At the conference, the issues of government financial support and regulatory reform were widely debated.
Last year, SK Chemical commercialized SKYCellflu—Korea`s first cell culture trivalent influenza vaccine for adults and the world`s first cell culture trivalent influenza vaccine for children—and entered into a partnership with global pharmaceutical companies to sell and develop other premium vaccines. Combined with these premium vaccines, SKYCellflu is championing the growth of SK Chemical`s vaccine business.
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Photo: Government officials, including Kim Seung-hee, Minister of Food and Drug Safety, and officials from Korean academia and pharmaceutical companies attend the Bio Medicine Regulation Regulatory Reform Indaba held on February 19 at the SK Chemical Complex in Pangyo.