Local pharmaceutical firm Glovax Biotech Corp. is seeking incentives from the Board of Investments for a proposed P7-billion project to develop second-generation vaccines that will cover future variants of flu and colds infections.
The company plans to team up with LG of Korea and the National Development Corp. to put up the P7-billion equity and technological support to continue the research, a source said.
A source from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines said the proposal was still exploratory, pending a meeting with the Board of Investments.
The proposed project aims to develop vaccines for future COVID-related ailments and similar afflictions, the source said.
Glovax is a fully-integrated Philippine company that imports, distributes and retails a complete line of vaccines at affordable prices to improve the availability of vaccine access to mid and lower income families.
The company proposed to develop new vaccines under the Vaccine Development and Security Program, a long-term project that aims to help the government in its annual vaccine requirement by making sure the doses are available anytime and at pre-determined prices.
The support from LG and NDC, if approved, will equip the company with resources to pursue research and generate the required clinical data to develop the vaccines.
It also has the support of Impact Investment Asia and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a leading global private equity firm with over $400 billion in equity transactions.
The source said company efforts to come up with vaccines for mutant COVID strains snowballed after Glovax decided it was already too “late in the game to develop vaccines against COVID-19.”
Glovax distributes vaccines from multinational pharmaceutical companies to 3,200 clinics and hospitals in 20 provinces, many of which do not have access to them.
The company imports seven vaccines and distributes them under the brand “Euro” at 25-percent less than the commercial prices of the said vaccines.