Jinwon Life Sciences Collaborates with Houston Methodist Hospital to Develop COVID-19 RNA Vaccine
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] GeneOne Life Science announced on the 18th that it is developing an RNA vaccine to prevent the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), which is causing a global pandemic, in collaboration with Houston Methodist Hospital, one of the world's leading research institutions related to mRNA pharmaceuticals, by utilizing its preclinical and clinical development know-how of DNA vaccines for emerging infectious disease prevention.
The 'RNA Therapeutics Program' led by Professor John Cooke and Dr. Roman Sukhovershin at Houston Methodist Hospital produces and provides various mRNA pharmaceuticals, including RNA vaccines, not only to the Texas Medical Center but also to research institutions worldwide.
In addition, they possess core technologies capable of producing cGMP-compliant mRNA pharmaceuticals necessary for investigator clinical trials, as well as conducting research to improve stability and drug delivery, along with experience in preclinical research and investigator clinical studies of mRNA pharmaceuticals.
GeneOne Life Science entered the RNA vaccine and mRNA pharmaceutical R&D business by signing an exclusive license agreement with its subsidiary VGXI and Houston Methodist Hospital in 2018. VGXI, a Texas-based plasmid contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) subsidiary, has successfully established a pilot production process for the commercial production of mRNA pharmaceuticals and is currently proceeding with process scale-up and optimization stages to build a large-scale cGMP production process.
Professor John Cooke of Houston Methodist Hospital said, "RNA vaccines enable rapid development from vaccine candidate derivation to clinical research, making them a new form of medicine particularly capable of responding to pandemic infectious diseases. It is fortunate to collaborate with GeneOne Life Science and VGXI to develop a COVID-19 preventive RNA vaccine."
Park Young-geun, CEO of GeneOne Life Science, stated, "We will swiftly carry out the development of the COVID-19 preventive RNA vaccine together with Houston Methodist Hospital and achieve a successful development case of our company's RNA vaccine innovation platform."
The RNA vaccine platform has recently attracted attention in terms of the rapid development and supply of safe vaccines among vaccines preventing COVID-19. The first COVID-19 vaccine to start clinical trials in the United States was an RNA vaccine jointly developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the biotech company Moderna, and the German company CureVac, which former U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to acquire, is also an RNA vaccine development company.
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The German RNA vaccine developer BioNTech also signed a COVID-19 RNA vaccine investment agreement receiving a total of $135 million in support from China's Fosun Pharma. Through a contract with Pfizer, they agreed to jointly develop the vaccine in regions outside China, including the U.S. and Europe, aiming to start clinical research by the end of April 2020.
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