● SK bioscience receives award for COVID-19 Vaccine Development

- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide $3.6 million to accelerate vaccine development of COVID-19 vaccine candidate to be available for a phase 1 clinical trial
- Multiple vaccine constructs using three (3) platforms SK has established being tested in preclinical studies prior to advancing to human trials in collaboration with one of the globally esteemed immunogen design institutes.


SK to make its best effort to enter into Phase 1 clinical trial for the most promising vaccine candidate(s) at the earliest timeframe.

SK bioscience, Co. Ltd. (SK), a vaccine and biotechnology company, announced today that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded funding of $3.6 million to support SK’s effort to develop multiple vaccine constructs using diverse platforms of which the most promising candidate(s) would further advance through the non-clinical toxicology study.

SK will coordinate with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is leading global COVID-19 vaccine research and development.

Despite an urgent need for an effective and affordable human vaccine to counter the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, less is known about the most efficient antigen needed to make a fully effective and safe vaccine against the newly identified virus, SARS-CoV-2. Being aware of the threat of the virus, SK will endeavor to develop simultaneously a number of vaccine candidates using three (3) different expression platforms to derive the best antigen candidates in collaboration with one of the globally esteemed immunogen design institutes.

It is believed that SK’s core capabilities in the platform technologies and corresponding commercial GMP capabilities for these expression systems will enable SK to initiate the First in Human (FIH) study immediately after the toxicology study is completed in animals considering SK has successfully established such technologies through development of its proprietary vaccines such as cell culture influenza virus vaccines and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine as well as partnership program such as non-replicating rotavirus vaccine (NRRV).

In parallel with on-going development of SK’s own recombinant COVID-19 vaccine candidates, SK will use the funding from the award to further develop more potentially higher immunogenic antigen constructs.

Mr. Jaeyong Ahn, SK’s CEO, said, "I think that this award is another evidence of SK’s dedication to the public health and its competent expertise that SK has shown previously during the course of developing two Gates Foundation funded vaccine projects currently under phase 3 clinical trials, namely Vi-DT typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) and NRRV, in terms of speed and quality. Most importantly, SK is highly inspired by the Gates Foundation’s proactive leadership in the COVID-19 global effort with multiple entities in an extraordinarily quick and efficient manner to secure highly effective and safe vaccines as one of the most needed responses to COVID-19 pandemic.”

SK is expecting to accelerate the success of the vaccine development through its approach as the target platforms have been widely used in human vaccines for long years demonstrating satisfactory immunogenic and safety profile in humans from a regulatory perspective compared to the vaccine candidates using innovative platform technologies.


About SK bioscience >

SK bioscience, carved-out from SK chemicals in 2018, is a South Korean vaccine and biotechnology company. Through the last 10-year R&D performance, SK has built up very broad spectrum of bacterial and viral vaccine pipeline including three commercial products with variety of platform technologies including but not limited to suspension, adherent cell culture, VLP, fermentation, conjugation and recombinant gene engineering. Vi-DT typhoid conjugate vaccine and NRRV are underway in collaboration with IVI and PATH respectively under grants from the the Gates Foundation.

In this March, SK and Sanofi Pasteur announced that they have filed the IND application for a phase 2 clinical trial in the United States for the next-generation PCV which SK and Sanofi Pasteur have been co-developing. SK also out-licensed its proprietary cell culture technology to Sanofi Pasteur for potential use in its strategic broadly protective influenza vaccine development program in 2018.

SK has the state-of-art vaccine manufacturing facility (L House) which has multi-functional production suites adopting the commercial-scale, single-use system which is prequalified by WHO for trivalent and quadrivalent cell-based influenza vaccine (single and multi-dose presentation), as well as for its varicella vaccines.



* photo: SK bioscience receives award for COVID-19 Vaccine Development