• Four-week program combines didactic training at IVI, hands-on training at K-Bio Health, and onsite training at state-of-the-art biomanufacturing plants

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is conducting the didactic training component of the KOR-IDB Biomanufacturing Training from October 23 to 30 at its headquarters in Seoul, Korea to educate 20 bio R&D and production personnel from countries in Latin America.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for biomanufacturing in low- and middle-income countries to improve global vaccine equity, and the development of biomanufacturing will require the training of scientists and technicians to work in these industries. To address this gap, the KOR-IDB Biomanufacturing Training was initiated as a pilot project to strengthen biomanufacturing capacity of South and Central American countries and ease inequalities in global vaccine access.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is providing funding for the training of personnel from Latin American countries. The course will be held in two groups of 20 trainees for four weeks each, with the first group starting with a kick-off ceremony at IVI headquarters on October 23. The training of the second group will be conducted from November 23 to December 20.

The new training course provides a comprehensive curriculum covering all aspects of biomanufacturing, from the initial stages of vaccine R&D to the final stages of production and manufacturing. The weeklong didactic training is centered on basic theory, basics of cGMP, biosafety, and case studies, which will be followed by two weeks of hands-on training at K-Bio Health (Osong Biomedical Innovation Foundation). This will be supplemented by one week of onsite training at advanced manufacturing facilities of leading biopharmaceutical companies, including GC Green Cross in Ochang and Daewoong Pharmaceutical in Osong, South Chungcheong Province.

The trainees will include scientists, engineers, technicians, and managers with up to six years of experience in biomanufacturing or a related field. The first batch of trainees consists of 16 people from Brazil, three from Colombia, and one from Argentina.

“Hands-on training is essential to foster a competent biomanufacturing workforce. The Republic of Korea, with its world-class biopharmaceutical companies and educational facilities, offers an outstanding environment to provide such training,” said Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI. “Combining didactic training at IVI, hands-on at K-Bio Health and onsite training at manufacturing plants, the course will give the trainees an ideal opportunity to learn essential knowledge and gain most practical skills for manufacturing.”

After Korea was designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing (GTH-B) in February 2022, IVI has served as a key training partner of the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. Since then, it has been providing quality training on vaccine and biopharmaceutical production to professionals from LMICs in collaboration with partners across Korea and overseas. Through the ‘Introductory Course for Biologics Development and Manufacturing’ held in June 2022 and this year and the ‘Introductory Course for Standard Practice (GxP)’ in November last year, IVI has trained a total of around 500 professionals from more than 40 countries, with the second GxP course set to start on October 30.

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About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a non-profit international organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health.

IVI’s current portfolio includes vaccines at all stages of pre-clinical and clinical development for infectious diseases that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries, such as cholera, typhoid, chikungunya, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, hepatitis E, HPV, COVID-19, and more. IVI developed the world’s first low-cost oral cholera vaccine, pre-qualified by the World Health Organization (WHO), and developed a new-generation typhoid conjugate vaccine that is currently under assessment for WHO PQ.

IVI is headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea with a Europe Regional Office in Sweden and Collaborating Centers in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Madagascar. 39 countries and the WHO are members of IVI, and the governments of the Republic of Korea, Sweden, India, Finland, and Thailand provide state funding. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int.