Aju Business Daily

 
SEOUL -- Celltrion, a leading biotech company in South Korea, left the door open for consignment production through cooperation with COVID-19 vaccine producers, saying more than 10 companies worldwide are expected to succeed in developing vaccines in the first half of 2021.

"About 100 companies around the world are developing COVID-19 vaccines, and more than 10 are expected to succeed in the first half of next year," Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin told reporters on the sidelines of a bio-industry event in Songdo west of Seoul. "Celltrion is open to a system of working together to produce COVID-19 vaccines and secure them for domestic use," he added.

Clinical trials are under way to verify the efficacy and safety of Celltrion's COVID-19 antibody treatment, CT-P59. Celltrion has vowed to complete preparations for the mass supply of therapeutic antibodies. Seo said Celltrion would try to obtain conditional approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug for emergency use within this year.