SK Bioscience Agrees to Extend COVID-19 Vaccine Production Facility Use Contract with CEPI

On the 5th (local time), at the agreement ceremony held in Brussels, Belgium, Ahn Jae-yong, President of SK Bioscience, and Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI (from left), signed the facility usage contract for Andong L House. (Photo by SK Bioscience).JPG

Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] SK Bioscience is expected to continue contract manufacturing (CMO) of COVID-19 vaccines for global pharmaceutical companies next year.

On the 5th (local time), SK Bioscience announced on the 6th that it had extended the 'Capacity Reservation' facility usage contract with CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), an international non-governmental organization, at Brussels, Belgium, to utilize part of the L House bulk production facility in Andong, Gyeongbuk, for the production of COVID-19 vaccines by companies supported by CEPI. In addition, while continuing close cooperation to overcome the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, they agreed to expand collaboration on research and vaccine development for various infectious diseases that have been occurring frequently recently.

On this day, Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, Choi Chang-won, Vice Chairman of SK Discovery, and Ahn Jae-yong, President of SK Bioscience, attended the signing ceremony and discussed cooperation plans to supply COVID-19 vaccines equitably worldwide.

Through this, SK Bioscience and CEPI reached a final agreement to extend the facility usage contract for the Andong L House, which was signed in June last year and was set to expire at the end of this year, until the end of next year. Accordingly, it includes prioritizing the contract manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines developed by CEPI-supported companies using 3 out of 9 bulk production facilities at L House until the end of next year.

The initial contract fee was negotiated at a symbolic amount of '1 euro (approximately 1,377 KRW)' to participate in the world's efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection and to maintain a friendly cooperative relationship with international organizations such as CEPI and the global vaccine procurement project 'COVAX facility.'

Under the existing L House facility usage contract, which was scheduled to expire at the end of this year, contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) of COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed with CEPI's support, such as the U.S. company Novavax, had been conducted.

Meanwhile, SK Bioscience plans to accelerate the development of its own COVID-19 vaccine 'GBP510' under close cooperation with CEPI. GBP510, jointly developed by SK Bioscience and the Antigen Design Institute at the University of Washington, U.S., utilizing GSK's pandemic immune adjuvant technology, is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials.

CEPI, together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has supported SK Bioscience with up to a total of $213.7 million (approximately 253.7 billion KRW) in development funds from the early stages of GBP510's development. Notably, GBP510 was also selected as the first target of CEPI's 'Wave 2' vaccine project launched last year to support differentiated COVID-19 vaccine candidates. If commercialized, hundreds of millions of doses are expected to be supplied worldwide, including to underdeveloped countries.

Additionally, SK Bioscience and CEPI are discussing further development for variants of GBP510 and research on booster shots.

Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, emphasized, "Although 6.2 billion doses of vaccines have been distributed worldwide, the first-dose vaccination rate in underdeveloped countries is only 2.3%. We must continue to strive to resolve this inequality." He added, "The additional facility usage contract with SK provides an opportunity to approach COVAX's promise of protecting vulnerable populations through equitable vaccine supply, while strengthening the relationship between CEPI, COVAX, and the Republic of Korea, contributing to controlling COVID-19."

Ahn Jae-yong, President of SK Bioscience, also said, "The proven production system and technology demonstrated through contract manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines for global companies have led to this extension contract with CEPI. Next year, by securing and supplying our own COVID-19 vaccine, we will play a role as a genuine global vaccine supply hub."