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According to related industries on the 22nd, it is expected that SK Bioscience will be able to produce as many vaccines as it wants if it receives technology transfer. In the case of consignment production (CMO), the amount of supply is determined according to pre-orders from the original manufacturer, NovaVax. It is up to the original manufacturer whether to supply production to Korea or export it overseas. It is possible that the production volume will be delivered to NovaVax first, and then only some of it will be supplied back to Korea.
Upon receiving technology transfer, SK Bioscience will be able to decide on its own production and sales. An SK official said, “CMO is produced only when there is an order from a pharmaceutical company and supplied until a specified time, whereas technology transfer is to take over the right to produce and sell vaccines to the region for a certain period.” It can be seen that the width of decision-making has been broadened because it can be produced and responded to without any separate orders.”
It is uncommon for global vaccine manufacturers to transfer technology for new drugs to pharmaceutical companies in other countries. NovaVax is known to be the first to discuss technology transfer. Moderna did not have its own production facility, so it transferred the technology to the Swiss pharmaceutical company Lonza and signed a production contract for 10 years. Lonza is considered as the world’s largest CMO along with Samsung Biologics and Boehringer Ingelheim. AstraZeneca has signed a technology transfer contract with India Serum Research Institute (SII) for 1 billion doses to produce vaccines. India Serum Research Institute is known to have the world’s largest vaccine production facility. An official from the pharmaceutical industry said, “The fact that NovaVax chose SK Bioscience as the technology transfer partner is a result of a fairly high evaluation of the company’s technology.”
When SK Bioscience signs a technology transfer contract with NovaVax, SK Bioscience will pay a step-by-step technology fee (milestone) in addition to the advance deposit. The upfront deposit is about 3~10% of the total down payment, and the total down payment can be as little as several hundred billion won and as many as several trillion won. It is going to be decided through future discussions on how long the technology transfer contract will be signed for how long and for how long. The Blue House expects that a technology transfer contract will be signed between the two companies as early as this month and domestic supply will be possible around May and June.
An official at SK Bioscience said, “We must continue to discuss the amount, timing, and quantity of (technology transfer)” and “we will try to provide vaccines through consultations as soon as possible.”