South Korea-based SK bioscience has announced that Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia) visited the SK bioscience headquarters and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the company to establish a strategic partnership in vaccine development and manufacturing between the two countries.

Along with the MoU, SK bioscience, and Frontier Biopharma agreed to sign a contract within the year for collaborating to establish vaccine manufacturing facilities in Serbia with support from the Serbian government.

According to the MoU, SK bioscience will utilise its own vaccine R&D, manufacturing, and commercialisation capabilities for strengthening the vaccine manufacturing environment to a global-certified level, transferring technologies and know-how for pandemic preparedness, commercialising products, training human resources, and supporting the vaccine R&D in Serbia. The newly established platform will supply Serbia and other European and emerging markets from a hub in Serbia.

The Serbian government will provide administrative support related to the project and cooperate for possible supply of drug products in Serbia. Frontier Biopharma will be in charge of overall operation of the project.

The demand for localisation of vaccines in Serbia where most medical devices and medicines are currently imported from Europe and the United States is growing significantly. According to the 'Status of Korea-Serbia Cooperation Areas' report recently released by the 'Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA),' Serbia is actively seeking international collaborations and investing in biopharmaceutical and medical industry.

Image caption- (From Left) Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience; Chang won Chey, Vice Chairman of SK discovery; Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbi; and Kiren L. Naidoo, CEO of Frontier Biopharma.