[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The government is actively promoting international cooperation to secure core technologies for the development of mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines, one of the COVID-19 vaccine platforms.
According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 27th, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases held a video conference on the 25th with the research and business development team of Moderna to discuss joint research and cooperation plans.
During the meeting, the institute discussed detailed cooperation plans for joint development of mRNA vaccines and received information on Moderna’s plans for variant virus originating from South Africa and the development of combination vaccines, the Central Disease Control Headquarters reported. On the 3rd of next month, a video conference is also scheduled to sign a Letter of Intent (LOI) for joint research cooperation necessary to secure core mRNA vaccine technologies with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
mRNA vaccines are made by mass replicating mRNA that produces the spike protein on the virus surface. Moderna and Pfizer developed COVID-19 vaccines using this technology.
Earlier, at the 'Government-wide Support Committee for COVID-19 Therapeutics and Vaccine Development' meeting held on the 19th, the Korean government decided to operate an 'mRNA Vaccine Project Group' in the form of a technology convergence consortium to secure mRNA vaccine technology.
This group plans to develop various essential technologies required for mRNA vaccine development and derive optimized technologies capable of responding to variant viruses. Additionally, the government plans to establish an 'mRNA Vaccine Specialized Subcommittee' under the government-wide working committee to prepare inter-ministerial collaboration, project group composition, content, and operational plans.
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