SEOUL - As part of its bid to better tackle spreading A/H1N1 flu infections, South Korea's Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs has asked GlaxoSmithKline to supply three million doses of its A/H1N1 flu vaccine within the year, rather than next year as originally planned.

"Lee Jong-Koo, director of Korea's Centers for Disease and Prevention, struck the verbal agreement with GSK when he visited Brussels, Belgium last week," a ministry official told PharmAsia News. "Since the two sides have to agree on the price of the vaccines, a final written agreement wasn't signed at this time."

The purchase price from GSK is expected to be about KRW14,000 ($11.40) per dose, the official said.

During his Aug. 24-27 visit, Lee also visited Lyon, France for talks with Sanofi Pasteur in his pursuit of more of the vaccines, said the ministry official who requested anonymity.

GSK Korea spokeswoman Myung Hae-Kyung said that a formal agreement will be signed soon to bring in the vaccines by the end of the year.

"Under the formal pact, the vaccines will come into Korea this year, instead of next year," said Myung, adding that GSK Korea played a "supporting role" in mapping out the deal by relaying Korea's "urgency for the vaccines" to GSK's head office.

"Clinical trials of the GSK vaccines are currently conducted in other foreign countries, and the results are expected this year," the spokeswoman said, adding that Korea FDA has promised "speedy approval" for the vaccines after it is approved in other countries.

Alarmed by the rising number of local citizens infected with the flu virus and the recent deaths of three people, the ministry is moving to garner a total of 10 million doses of the vaccines including seven million doses to be produced by local vaccine maker Green Cross.

GSK Willing To Supply Adjuvants To Green Cross

Green Cross is currently in talks with multinational companies to buy the adjuvants used in its production of the flu vaccine. Green Cross said it could increase its output of the vaccine with the help of the adjuvants. Along with Novartis, GSK is one of the MNCs Green Cross is negotiating with on the adjuvants (Also see "Korea's Green Cross in Talks with MNCs Over A/H1N1 Vaccine Adjuvants" - Scrip, 26 August, 2009.).

While Lee was in discussions with GSK officials in Brussels, GSK officials said they would be interested in selling the needed adjuvants to Korea's Green Cross, but Lee "rejected the condition," telling GSK officials that only Green Cross could make that decision as a private company, the ministry official said.

With vaccines secured from GSK and Green Cross, the health ministry is moving to vaccinate 13.66 million people - or 27 percent of the total population - by February, with doctors, nurses, elderly citizens, students and pregnant women receiving the first doses.

As the total number of Koreans infected with the flu surpassed 3,000, many schools have delayed the start of their new semesters in an effort to prevent potential mass infections among students.

Korean President Lee Myung-Bak ordered last week that stockpiles of Roche's Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza (zanamivir) should be boosted to cover 20 percent of the population, double the current 10 percent slated to fight the A/H1N1 virus.

Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Minister Jeon Jae-Hee also said that Tamiflu and Relenza could be manufactured under compulsory licensing in South Korea if the country faces an emergency swine flu threat in the coming months (Also see "Roche, GSK Face Compulsory Licensing Of Antivirals If Swine Flu Emergency Hits - South Korean Health Minister" - Scrip, 24 August, 2009.).

Korea FDA Chief Yun Yeu-Pyo reportedly told ruling party lawmakers that health authorities should allow SK Chemicals to produce a generic version of Tamiflu (Also see "Korea FDA Rebuts Reports Of Compulsory Licensing For Roche's Tamiflu" - Scrip, 21 August, 2009.).

- Peter Chang (p.chang@elsevier.com)

GSK To Supply Korea With 3 Million Doses of A/H1N1 Flu Vaccine By Year End

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