South Korea in talks with Moderna to build $200m vaccine factory

IslamNews – South Korea and the COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna are in discussions over a $200m investment by the US drugmaker to build a vaccine manufacturing factory in the country, a former government minister who was involved in the talks said.

The news comes as the government also announced on Friday that it has approved pharmaceutical company Celltrion’s anti-COVID-19 treatment for conditional use.

Park Young-sun, who stepped down last month as minister for SMEs and Startups to run for Seoul mayor, made the comments about Moderna in an interview with the Asia Business Daily newswire.

She also said Moderna was highly interested in the Asian market, according to the report.

Her campaign official confirmed the report to the Reuters news agency. Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Moderna has expressed its interest to invest $200m … and I’ll continue to participate in the discussion for a while, as I had held talks with them as a minister,” Park was quoted as saying.

The campaign official also told Reuters the factory will likely be built in the capital Seoul.

It has yet to be decided when and by how much the plant will be able to produce vaccines, the official said.

Source: ALjazeera