[The Unfinished War, 6 Months of COVID-19] Domestic Therapeutics Targeted This Year, Vaccines Next Year

Celltrion Plans Mass Production Within the Year
Vaccine Slightly Delayed Compared to US and Europe

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Interest in vaccines and treatments has increased further due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. With no clear end in sight, the development of vaccines and treatments is considered the only way to return to normal life. The government aims to develop treatments within this year and vaccines by next year.

According to the National Clinical Trial Support Foundation on the 20th, as of the 10th, there are a total of 1,060 clinical trials worldwide for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines (1,013 for treatments and 47 for vaccines). In South Korea, out of 17 approved clinical trials for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, 13 are currently underway, including 11 treatment trials and 2 vaccine trials.

Domestically, Celltrion's antibody treatment and GC Green Cross's plasma treatment are accelerating development. At a press conference held on the same day, Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion, stated, "The key to COVID-19 treatments is price and production capacity," adding, "Antibody treatments have low side effects, but the problem is their high price, so lowering the price is crucial to making them widely available." On the 17th, Celltrion received approval for Phase 1 clinical trials of the antibody treatment 'CT-P59.' Celltrion plans to complete clinical trials within this year and begin mass production of the COVID-19 antibody treatment. By the first half of next year, they aim to produce enough antibody treatment for 5 million people, supplying 1 million doses domestically and 4 million doses overseas.

GC Green Cross also plans to apply for approval of the clinical trial plan (IND) for the plasma treatment 'GC5131A' by the end of this month. Since the 18th, GC Green Cross has started producing clinical trial products for GC5131A. Using general plasma, it shares the same mechanism of action and production method as commercially available similar products, making it the fastest to commercialize among COVID-19 treatment pipelines. This is because it plans to skip Phase 1 clinical trials after safety verification. A GC Green Cross official explained, "Excluding drug repurposing products, this treatment is planned to proceed from Phase 2 clinical trials the fastest."

Regarding vaccines, South Korea's development pace is somewhat behind. Globally, companies such as Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm are approaching Phase 3 clinical trials, and the U.S. and Europe are preparing for full-scale vaccine production. Among domestic companies, Genexine is the only one that has entered clinical trials and is currently conducting Phase 1 trials. They aim to complete Phase 1 by September and proceed to Phase 2a.

Health authorities have set the goal for mass production of domestic COVID-19 vaccines by the end of next year. Kwon Jun-wook, deputy head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, stated, "Our goal is to prove the safety and efficacy of vaccines domestically and start mass production before the end of next year." He explained, "Since vaccines are administered to healthy individuals, safety is extremely important beyond efficacy, and there are many additional challenges such as strategy, supply, transportation systems, vaccination priority, safety monitoring, and the time required for vaccination."

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