HK Innoen Begins Development of COVID-19 Vaccine

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] HK Innoen, a subsidiary of Korea Kolmar (formerly CJ Healthcare), has embarked on the development of a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.

On the 10th, HK Innoen announced that it signed a technology transfer agreement for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate at the 'CEVI (Novel Virus) Convergence Research Group Technology Transfer Ceremony' held at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology on the 9th, and has commenced joint research.

The 'high-efficacy coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine candidate' transferred to HK Innoen was developed by the CEVI Convergence Research Group under the National Science and Technology Research Council of the Ministry of Science and ICT. This candidate material will be used for the development of vaccine pharmaceuticals to prevent infection from both the original COVID-19 and its variants in humans.

HK Innoen and the CEVI Convergence Research Group will conduct joint research for preclinical and clinical trials. Additionally, they plan to carry out joint research for the development of a new pneumococcal vaccine in the future.

The new vaccine candidate transferred to HK Innoen is a synthetic antigen vaccine, exhibiting neutralizing antibody potency 3 to 5 times higher than other candidates currently under development. Neutralizing antibody potency, which indicates vaccine efficacy, refers to the ability to generate antibodies in the human body that bind to the antigen and neutralize its activity when the vaccine antigen is administered.

An HK Innoen official explained, "High neutralizing antibody potency means that COVID-19 prevention is possible not only for mild cases but also for severe patients."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.