Instead of Injections, 'Patch Vaccines'... Will SK Bioscience and GC Green Cross Face Off?

SK Bioscience Signs Business Agreement with Baeksas
Green Cross Also Collaborates with Baeksas Technologies

SK Bioscience and GC Green Cross, two major companies in domestic vaccine development, have entered the patch-type vaccine market. Known as the "pain-free injection," patch-type vaccines are considered a market with great potential due to their convenience in distribution and administration compared to traditional injections.

Patch vaccine platform technologies of Australian vaccine platform company Vaxxas (above) and American company Vaxess Technologies.
[Image source=Captured from each company's homepage]

On the 24th, SK Bioscience signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian vaccine platform developer Vaxxas to jointly develop a patch-type typhoid vaccine. The patch-type vaccine development applies Vaxxas's "high-density microarray patch" technology. The collaboration between the two companies is supported by the UK-based global healthcare charity foundation, the Wellcome Trust.

GC Green Cross appears to be one step ahead as it has entered the clinical trial phase for its patch-type vaccine. In June, the US company Vaxess Technologies announced the results of Phase 1 clinical trials for the patch-type influenza vaccine "MIMIX-Flu," which is being co-developed with GC Green Cross. Phase 1 trials were conducted on 45 healthy adults aged 18 to 39, evaluating the drug's safety, reactogenicity, tolerability, and immunogenicity compared to a placebo group. Vaxess, which led the trial, reported positive responses in terms of immune response, safety, and potential dose sparing.

Patch-type vaccines deliver the drug into the body through tiny needles attached to the patch, causing almost no pain compared to traditional subcutaneous injections and are easy enough for self-administration. Additionally, they can be stored and distributed at room temperature, making them highly useful in middle- and low-income countries that lack cold chain systems.

Both companies are developing their vaccines through collaboration with overseas patch-type vaccine platform companies. SK Bioscience supplies the antigen for the typhoid vaccine "SkyTyphoid," while Vaxxas develops the "microarray patch" formulation that attaches to the skin. The MIMIX-Flu vaccine co-developed by GC Green Cross combines GC Green Cross's influenza vaccine antigen (H1N1) with Vaxess's patch-based subcutaneous drug delivery system.

They may compete in the future with patch-type vaccines within the same vaccine product category. Currently, the diseases targeted by the patch-type vaccines developed by the two companies do not overlap: typhoid (SK Bioscience) and influenza (GC Green Cross). A representative from SK Bioscience explained, "Although we have signed an agreement with Vaxxas for typhoid vaccine development now, the ultimate goal is to develop patch-type versions of our major vaccines, including influenza, in the future."

Among domestic companies, Juvic and Lapas are also developing patch-type vaccine and therapeutic platform technologies. Juvic has developed the core technology for a microneedle-based patch-type vaccine platform. Early last year, it signed an agreement with the Korea Pasteur Institute for joint development of a microneedle influenza vaccine.

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