● SKYCellflu, Selected as 2019 Korea Highest Brand

- Selected as No. 1 in the vaccine category of the Highest Brand, in the brand management performance certification system
- SKYCellflu, Korea＇s only cell-cultured influenza vaccine, has won the award for the fifth consecutive year


Cell-cultured influenza vaccine, SKYCellflu has been named the top vaccine brand selected by consumers for the fifth consecutive year.

SK bioscience announced on the 30th that cell-cultured influenza vaccine, SKYCellflu, won first place in the vaccine category in the 2019 Korea Highest Brand awards.

Korea Highest Brand is a system that selects and awards domestic representative brands that have created the best value for the year. To select the award winners, brand values are measured through KBHI, an evaluation model jointly developed by Brandstock and Yonsei University Business Research Institute.

At the awards ceremony, marking its 14th anniversary this year, 30,000 consumers and experts＇ panel gave a comprehensive evaluation of innovation, differentiation, trend leadership, and product reliability.

SK bioscience＇s SKYCellflu was selected as the brand leading the market for the fifth consecutive year by receiving high scores in the evaluation categories of innovation and reliability.

SK bioscience launched the world＇s first trivalent cell-cultured influenza vaccine in 2015 under the SKYCellflu brand, followed by the world＇s first quadrivalent cell-cultured influenza vaccine in 2016. SKYCellflu has surpassed 20 million doses (one dose is one inoculation amount) in cumulative sales in Korea.

The production process is fast and efficient because cell-cultured influenza vaccine production technology utilizes animal cells, rather than fertile chicken eggs. In addition, unlike the production method of using fertilized eggs, the SK bioscience production process takes only half the time and does not use antibiotics or preservatives during the manufacturing process, so it can respond more quickly to emergencies caused by a virulent influenza strain.

Recently, a series of domestic and foreign studies announced that cell-cultured influenza vaccines can provide a higher preventive effect as they are less likely to mutate viruses that can occur in the incubation process than vaccines produced in fertile chicken eggs.

According to data that analyzed the relative effects of influenza vaccines in the 2017-2018 season by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the cell-cultured quadrivalent influenza vaccines showed 11% higher preventive effect than quadrivalent egg-based influenza vaccines. Also, the WHO (World Health Organization) agency＇s comparison of the influenza virus and the virus by the culture method showed a concordance rate of 91% in cell-cultured virus and only a 44% concordance rate with egg-based virus.

SKYCellflu＇s cell culture production technology was exported to a global vaccine company in February last year. In April this year, it received the World Health Organization’s first-ever Pre-qualification (WHO PQ) certification for a cell-cultured influenza vaccine.

“This is the result of consumers＇ choice of products by assessing the technological superiority of vaccines," said Ahn Jae-yong, CEO of SK bioscience, and he added, "We will continue to take the lead in improving human health as a global innovator in vaccine technology.”



* Photo description: SKYCellflu, cell-cultured influenza vaccine, selected by consumers for the Korea Highest Brand for the 5th consecutive year