SK bioscience, a global vaccine and biotech company that promotes human health from prevention to cure across the globe, has established the Songdo Global Research & Process Development Center (The R&PD Center), in Songdo, Korea.
The R&PD Center is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2025. The company is investing $261 million, that includes a previous investment of $33 million.
Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience said, “The establishment of the R&PD Center will be a crucial milestone for us to advance the entire vaccine and biopharmaceutical industry beyond Korea to the world. We will ultimately organize the ‘Dream Team’ of the global health network to protect a safe tomorrow for people around the world.”
SK bioscience intends to secure the newest technologies covering the entire process from basic research to commercial manufacturing and to ultimately create a global vaccine ecosystem to preemptively respond to new infectious diseases through the establishment.
To achieve the goal, the company plans to operate the Open Lab in the R&PD Center to strengthen a global vaccine network. The Open Lab will be utilized as a joint research space for international organizations and biopharmaceutical companies around the world to develop new vaccines together with SK bioscience.
In addition, collaborations such as manpower training for other countries which do not have enough research capacities but high demand for vaccine development, are planned in the Open Lab.
The operation of the Open Lab is designed to help promote the “Glocalization” business, a project that transfers SK bioscience’s R&D and production capabilities to countries with high demand for vaccines but insufficient human and physical infrastructure, and one of the main future strategies of SK bioscience.