A government-civilian consortium that aims to develop a domestic mRNA COVID-19 vaccine by next year was formed on Tuesday. 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association announced the formation of the “Next-generation mRNA Vaccine Platform Technology Consortium” composed of Hanmi Pharm, ST Pharm and GC Pharma. 

The consortium is aiming to secure the platform technology to develop mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and produce 100 million doses by next year. 

The consortium will also seek to secure a system for mass production by 2023 and from then on produce more than one billion doses annually to make the nation self-sufficient and lay the foundation to globally export the vaccines. 

To this end, the three companies taking part in the consortium plan to inject more than 700 billion won.