"2.4 Trillion Investment" SK Bioscience Accelerates SKBS 3.0

SK Bioscience is set to fully implement its new growth strategy under the slogan 'SK Bioscience (SKBS) 3.0.' The plan envisions steadily increasing sales in the existing vaccine business while securing new growth capabilities through the cell and gene therapy (CGT) business. To this end, the company has announced a funding plan to invest approximately KRW 2.4 trillion over five years until 2027.

Jae-yong Ahn, CEO of SK Bioscience [Photo by Ministry of Health and Welfare]

SK Bioscience disclosed this growth strategy on the 27th. This represents a more concrete form of the new growth strategy initially presented under the name SKBS 3.0.

First, the existing cash cow, the vaccine business, aims to double its sales from an expected KRW 110 billion this year to KRW 220 billion in 2024. Production of the influenza vaccine 'Skycellflu,' which was temporarily halted to focus on COVID-19 vaccine production, will resume this year. Skycellflu is regarded as the king of influenza vaccines, having maintained the number one market position with a 29% market share until 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the company aims for concurrent growth of ▲varicella vaccine 'Skyvaricella,' ▲shingles vaccine 'Skyzoster,' and ▲typhoid vaccine 'Skytyphoid.' Among these, Skytyphoid, developed in collaboration with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), is expected to enter the global market by the end of this year through World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification (PQ).

While expanding the ongoing vaccine contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business, SK Bioscience is also accelerating the launch of premium vaccines to increase sales. Leading the way is the pneumococcal 21-valent vaccine 'Skypack,' currently in Phase 2 clinical trials. A decision regarding entry into Phase 3 clinical trials is expected within this year. Since the highest serotype count among currently used pneumococcal vaccines is 20-valent, the 21-valent vaccine aims to be the 'best-in-class' within its category. Additionally, the company plans to launch a 10-valent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and a recombinant shingles vaccine by 2027, targeting sales of KRW 2.5 trillion and KRW 600 billion respectively over the following three years.

As the next-generation growth engine, CGT has been introduced. The CGT CDMO facility, to be housed in the Incheon Songdo Research & Process Development (R&PD) Center scheduled for completion in 2025, is expected to become a core driver of new growth. To secure faster technology and production capabilities, SK Bioscience is considering mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of other CGT-related companies, and plans to expand into the entire CGT business area, including in-house development of products and platforms.

To support this, SK Bioscience will also focus on 'glocalization.' The company plans to pursue asset enhancement strategies such as establishing global production bases and securing diverse revenue models that respond to the environments and demands of each country.

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