Aju Business Daily

 
SEOUL -- With the help of Samsung Electronics, a South Korean medical device manufacturer has established a smart production system capable of manufacturing more than 10 million syringes per month for COVID-19. Poonglim Pharmatech has submitted a request for emergency use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

It can be injected up to five times per bottle of vaccine with a regular syringe, but a Poonglim syringe enables the safe injection of COVID-19 vaccine more than six times, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The safety and performance of Poonglim's needle and syringe have been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Poonglim has applied for international patents in the U.S. and the European Union, the ministry said, adding Samsung has dispatched experts to help establish a smart production system for Poonglim.

"It is a representative success model of cooperation that integrated the excellent technology of our SMEs and smart manufacturing know-how and global network capabilities of large companies with active government support," Minister Park Young-sun said. The ministry will support the establishment of smart factories for other syringe manufacturers in preparation for South Korea's national inoculation that would begin in February.

At a press conference on January 18, President Moon Jae-in said South Korea aims to achieve complete herd immunity no later than late November. "South Korea will definitely not lag behind, but rather will be able to achieve it much faster compared to other nations when considering the inoculation period and the time frame in achieving herd immunity."