COVID-19 Vaccination to Begin This Month... When Will Domestic Vaccine Development Happen?

On the afternoon of the 9th, medical staff administered vaccines to training participants during a mock vaccination drill held at the Comprehensive Cancer Vaccination Center of the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] As the first COVID-19 vaccination in Korea is scheduled to be implemented this month, attention is focused on when the first domestically developed vaccine will be created following Celltrion's Rekkeonaju (CT-P59), the first domestic therapeutic agent.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 14th, a total of seven vaccines have been approved for clinical trials in Korea. ▲3 DNA vaccines ▲3 recombinant vaccines ▲3 viral vector vaccines.

DNA vaccines inject the surface antigen gene (DNA) of the COVID-19 virus to induce an immune response by producing surface antigen proteins in the body. In overseas, Inovio in the United States is developing one. Currently, in Korea, the International Vaccine Institute's INO-4800, Genexine's GX-19N, and GeneOne Life Science's GLS-5310 are undergoing clinical phases 1 and 2.

Recombinant vaccines use genetic recombination technology to directly inject the surface antigen protein of the COVID-19 virus to induce an immune response. The Novavax vaccine from the United States, which is currently under contract discussions for domestic introduction, is representative. Domestically, SK Bioscience is developing NBP2001 and GBP510, and UbioLogics is developing U-Covax-19.

Viral vector vaccines insert the surface antigen gene of the COVID-19 virus into other virus vectors such as adenovirus to produce surface antigen proteins in the body and induce an immune response. Examples include AstraZeneca from the UK and Janssen from the US. Domestically, Cellid's AdCLD-CoV19 vaccine is undergoing clinical phases 1 and 2.

Celltrion's COVID-19 antibody treatment 'Rekkironaju (CT-P59)'
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Regarding COVID-19 therapeutics, a total of 15 products (13 ingredients) are undergoing clinical trials, led by Celltrion's Rekkeonaju, which recently received product approval. Bukwang Pharmaceutical, Engchem Life Sciences, Shinpoong Pharmaceutical, Chong Kun Dang, Crystal Genomics, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Genexine, Green Cross, Korea Lilly, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, MSD Korea, NewGen Therapeutics, Dong Wha Pharmaceutical, and ImmunMed are accelerating development.

The government is conducting a "COVID-19 Therapeutics and Vaccine Clinical Support Project Contest" every two months through the National New Drug Development Project Group to support the development of COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines. In the results of the third contest announced last month, two vaccines from Cellid and UbioLogics and two therapeutics from Celltrion and Daewoong Pharmaceutical were selected respectively.

The government increased the budget for supporting COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccine development by 48%, from 94 billion won last year to 138.8 billion won this year. Including this third contest, a budget of 36.4 billion won for five vaccine projects and 84.4 billion won for five therapeutic projects will be invested.

In addition, since September last year, the National Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Center has been operating to support rapid recruitment of subjects, joint IRB operation, and clinical trial support through the formation of a consortium between base hospitals and infectious disease specialized hospitals.

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