Wellbiotech Attends Domestic Academic Seminar on Russian COVID-19 Vaccine 'Covivac'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Wellbiotech, which has invested in the Russian COVID-19 vaccine 'Covivac' project, attended an academic seminar held by senior developers from the Chumakov Institute who visited Korea.

According to Wellbiotech on the 16th, the academic seminar held on the 15th was attended by Aidar Ishmukhametov, Director of the Chumakov Institute, Konstantin Chernov, Deputy Director, Anastasia Piniayeva, Senior Researcher, and Yuri Avin, Senior Researcher. The seminar was conducted under the theme of "Safe COVID-19 Vaccination and Rapid Formation of Herd Immunity."

The Chumakov Institute stated at the seminar, "The core technology behind the successful development of the Covivac vaccine lies in the technical know-how of cultivation and purification, as well as decades of accumulated virus research data," adding, "Like the polio vaccine, it was developed by applying ion-exchange chromatography technology, making it a product with verified safety."

Domestic vaccine experts such as Jinhan Kang, Director of the Vaccine Bio Research Institute at Catholic University, Byungyul Jeon, Professor at the Graduate School of Health Industry at CHA University, and Jaewook Choi, Professor of Preventive Medicine at Korea University Medical School, attended the event as panelists. In-depth discussions were held on cooperation plans for establishing a technology hub and a collaborative system to resolve the global COVID-19 vaccine supply shortage. Wellbiotech CEO Seohyun Koo attended the seminar in person as a representative of the investment partner company.

The Chumakov Institute, responsible for immunology and biology research and development under the Russian Academy of Sciences, was established in 1957 and has been dedicated to developing various vaccines, including the polio vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine 'Covivac' developed by the Chumakov Institute received conditional approval for use in Russia in February and officially entered Phase 3 clinical trials earlier this month.