The World Health Organization (WHO), the Republic of Korea and the WHO Academy have announced the establishment of a global bio-manufacturing training hub that will serve all low- and middle-income countries wishing to produce biologicals, such as vaccines, insulin, monoclonal antibodies and cancer treatments. The move comes after the successful establishment of a global mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa.

The Government of the Republic of Korea has offered a large facility outside Seoul that is already carrying out bio-manufacturing training for companies based in the country and will now expand its operations to accommodate trainees from other countries.

The facility will provide technical and hands-on training on operational and good manufacturing practice requirements and will complement specific trainings developed by the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa. The WHO Academy will work with the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare to develop a comprehensive curriculum on general bio-manufacturing.

In parallel, WHO is intensifying regulatory system strengthening through its Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT), an instrument that assesses regulatory authorities’ maturity level.

Five more countries will also receive support from the global mRNA hub in South Africa: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Serbia and Vietnam.