SK Bioscience’s MSD Contract Deal Boosts Share Price

SK Bioscience recently inked a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) agreement with MSD which is also known as Merck & Co. The deal is for the production of the next-generation Zaire Ebola virus vaccine candidate.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Park Min Soo, MSD’s executive vice president Sanat Chattopadhyay, SK Bioscience’s chief executive officer Ahn Jae Yong, SK Disocvery’s vice chairman Chang Won Chey, Hillman Labs CEO, Raman Rao, and Representative of Global R&BD Kim Hoon were all present at the signing ceremony.

After the contract signing of the CMO deal with MSD, The Korea Herald reported that the stock price of SK Bioscience surged by 16.39% to KRW83,100 or about $64.04 late last week. The increase is said to be largely due to the hopes that the deal will improve the company’s slow sales performance.

In any case, SK Bioscience further confirmed the deal with MSD on Monday, May 8. It also provided more details about the CMO agreement today.

“For the growth and development of the biopharmaceutical industry, it is very important to promote cooperation between companies and establish its innovative ecosystem,” Park Min Soo said in a press release. “The Korean government is seeking various support measures, such as regulatory innovation and governance establishment, to promote cooperation between companies. We hope that this contract will continue a friendly cooperative relationship between MSD, Korea, and SK bioscience.”

MSD’s EVP and president of the manufacturing unit, Sanat Chattopadhyay, also said, “At MSD, we continue to seek innovative solutions to help expand access and help make our vaccines available when needed to people around the world. This agreement with SK bioscience, as part of our strong global manufacturing network, may enable us to further assist the global community in its response to future outbreaks of the Zaire Ebola virus.”