But the lack of economic incentives could have constrained AstraZeneca and its manufacturing partners’ ability to get the supply chain in order, said Carlos Cordon, a professor of strategy and supply chain management at the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“The supply chain of the Astra vaccine is not an easy one and, logically, one would assume that there will be more than one source of supply to avoid bottlenecks,” Cordon said. “A little bit of an economic incentive would have certainly helped to make companies in the supply chain even eager to make higher production volumes.”
AstraZeneca’s choice of Thai partner raised questions from the start. Unlike India’s Serum -- which was the world’s biggest vaccine maker before the pandemic -- and other Asia partners like South Korea’s
SK Bioscience Co., Siam Bioscience is new to the vaccine-making business.
The company was founded in 2009 as Thailand’s first domestic bio-pharmaceutical drugmaker by the father of the nation’s current King Maha Vajiralongkorn, to provide cheaper alternatives to imported drugs. It has also made Covid test kits.
It’s set up by the
Crown Property Bureau, an agency that managed assets for the palace no matter who sat on the throne. The company had been operating at a loss in the four years leading up to the year of pandemic, when it brought in a net profit of 35.8 million baht ($1.1 million), according to data published by the Department of Business Development.
In February, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said Siam Bioscience does not seek to profit from making the Astra vaccines.
Royal Links
Complicating matters is Thailand’s lese majeste law, which can see jail time of up to 15 years for defaming the royal family. Its sweeping mandate means that little is said publicly about Siam Bioscience, even as concerns over vaccine supplies grow.
In January, Thai officials
said that Siam Bioscience would make 200 million doses each year. They haven’t spoken publicly again about the company in detail since.
When former prime-ministerial candidate Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit suggested that Siam Bioscience’s royal ties played a role in its appointment as AstraZeneca’s partner, the high-profile government critic was
charged with royal defamation.
Prime Minister Prayuth
apologized this week to the public for the delay, blaming “supply and distribution issues” without elaborating. Neither the Thai government nor Siam Bioscience responded to repeated requests for information on what is causing the supply shortfalls.
One Thai healthcare industry veteran, who asked not to be identified for fear of legal repercussions, likened the situation with Siam Bioscience to a bakery that just started making bread.
“They still haven’t perfected their craft,” he said. “None of us really knows their production capacity because they haven’t publicized it and we can’t criticize it. No one is willing to say. They can’t say it, because it’s Siam Bioscience.”
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