[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Optipharm is showing strong momentum day after day. Expectations for the achievements of the 'COVID-19 Vaccine Development Consortium,' composed of Hubet Bio, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, and Korea University College of Pharmacy, are leading to a rise in stock prices.
As of 11:47 AM on the 9th, Optipharm is trading at 17,000 KRW, up 17.65% from the previous day.
Earlier, the development consortium announced that on the 4th, it completed the first animal experiment to confirm the generation of neutralizing antibodies and is now entering the second phase of challenge vaccination experiments to verify the candidate substance's defense ability and safety.
The consortium claimed that in the first experiment, neutralizing antibodies began to be induced three weeks after vaccination and were maintained at more than 128-fold for five weeks until the eighth week.
Professor Daeseop Song of Korea University College of Pharmacy explained, "It is important that a certain level of neutralizing antibodies is maintained for more than four weeks," adding, "We plan to measure neutralizing antibodies weekly going forward to monitor the duration of immunity."
The consortium is entering challenge vaccination experiments where the virus is introduced after administering the COVID-19 vaccine candidate substance. The consortium revealed that after discovering a sub-unit vaccine candidate substance with excellent immune effects on the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus and administering it to mice, guinea pigs, and mini pigs, neutralizing antibodies were produced at more than 128-fold.
Optipharm and Hubet Bio signed a joint research contract last month to share costs and rights equally regarding COVID-19 vaccine development. This month, they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly cooperate on COVID-19 vaccine development with the International Vaccine Institute and others.
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