Professor Sung Baek-rin of Yonsei University Appointed as Head of Vaccine Commercialization Technology Project Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 2nd that it has appointed Sung Baek-rin, director of the Yonsei University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation (professor of biotechnology), as the head of the Vaccine Practical Technology Development Project Group.

This project was initially planned in 2018 and underwent a preliminary feasibility study the following year. It is a large-scale, long-term project with a national budget of 215.1 billion KRW over 10 years, from July this year until 2029. Targeting major infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis A, and hand, foot, and mouth disease, the project promotes research and development from candidate substance discovery to clinical trial linkage, and also supports production process and clinical trial sample production to create these vaccines. Additionally, it will continue to support follow-up research by inheriting the development research of candidate substances for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.

Professor Sung has continued vaccine-related activities within public institutions such as the Pan-Governmental Infectious Disease Response Research and Development Promotion Committee and is currently serving as a member of the Vaccine Global Industrialization Infrastructure Project Group. The term of office is up to 10 years, with two renewals after the initial agreement. In the future, he is expected to collaborate with the Public Vaccine Development Support Center and the National Virus and Infectious Disease Research Institute to play a key role in infectious disease response efforts.