● SK chemicals Launches Shingles Vaccine SKYZoster

- Import substitution expected through successful domestic commercialization in annual market size of about \80 billion
- Push into domestic market with supply of about 700,000 doses... Industry free of import dependence



An all-Korean-made herpes zoster vaccine has launched for the first time in Korea.

SK chemicals announced on the 20th that the company has started full-scale supply of SKYZoster Injection, a herpes zoster (commonly known as ‘shingles’) vaccine developed through proprietary technologies, to domestic hospitals and clinics after having obtained marketing authorization and nation-wide distribution approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

SK chemicals plans to complete supplying the vaccine quickly so that patients can have access to SKYZoster at all national hospitals and clinics within the year.

As of 2016, about 690,000 patients in South Korea alone suffer from herpes zoster each year. The launch of this all-Korean vaccine is expected to rapidly reshape Korea＇s shingles vaccine market which has been traditionally dominated by a single global pharmaceutical company.

"The monopolistic [herpes zoster vaccine] market structure has been broken, and patients will benefit from the expanded range of vaccination options." said Jae-yong Ahn, Head of VAX Business, SK chemicals. "We＇ll provide a stable supply of our herpes zoster vaccine at a reasonable price to drive greater public health well into the future."

SKYZoster is a live attenuated vaccine (LAV) prepared with the varicella-herpes zoster virus (VZV). The vaccine has undergone 5 years of clinical trials domestically at eight clinical institutions including Korea University Guro Hospital, after having demonstrated strict safety in professional non-clinical testing institutions overseas.

According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of patients in Korea with herpes zoster has been rising steadily each year: 577,000 in 2012, 623,000 in 2013, 648,000 in 2014, 666,000 in 2015, and 691,000 in 2016. As anticipated, the market for herpes zoster vaccines has also grown rapidly. Industry professionals estimate the domestic herpes zoster vaccine supply to have reached about 700,000 doses last year.

Currently, SK chemicals is considering entering the global market in the near future. Until now, Zostavax, introduced by global pharmaceutical company MSD in 2006 (2013 in Korea), was the only available herpes zoster vaccine in what was essentially a market monopoly. According to Data Monitor, a market research firm, the global market size for herpes zoster vaccines is estimated to be about $685 million (\800 billion) as of 2016.

To realize domestic vaccine self-sufficiency, SK chemicals has focused on vaccine research and development since in 2008, investing a total of \400 billion. Notably, the company has established an infrastructure capable of producing most vaccines domestically, including their world-leading vaccine factory L-House in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, which houses production facilities and fundamental technologies for cell culture, bacterial culture, genetic recombinant, and protein conjugate vaccines, to name a few.





PHOTO: 1.SK chemicals employees celebrating the first shipment of SKYZoster at L-House in Andong on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017.


PHOTO: 2.Jae-yong Ahn (center), Head of VAX Business, and other SK chemicals officials hold ribbon cutting ceremony at L-House in Andong for the launch of SKYZoster.