Pharmaceutical Industry Launches Development of Omicron-Specific Vaccines

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Global pharmaceutical companies are accelerating the development of 'Omicron-tailored' vaccines while examining the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the rapidly spreading COVID-19 variant Omicron.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 29th (local time), pharmaceutical companies have begun experiments on the protective effects of existing vaccines and believe that if the current vaccines prove insufficient, they could have vaccines targeting Omicron ready within a few months.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said in an interview with CNBC, "We do not know yet, but we believe there is a possibility that the protective effect of existing vaccines may decrease," adding, "In that case, we can develop a new vaccine within 100 days and have already started related work."

As the first step in vaccine development, Pfizer created a new DNA template on the 26th.

He explained, "We have stated several times that we could have a vaccine within 100 days," and added, "We also quickly developed vaccines for the previously emerged Beta and Delta variants, but did not use them because the existing vaccines were effective."

Paul Burton, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of another vaccine manufacturer Moderna, expressed concerns in a BBC interview the day before, mentioning the possibility that the Omicron variant is related to 'immune evasion.'

He also predicted, "If there is a need to create a new vaccine, it could be released by early next year before mass production."

Stefan Bancel, CEO of Moderna, appeared on CNBC and said, "It will take a few months before we are ready to mass-produce and supply a vaccine specifically targeting the Omicron variant."

CEO Bancel believes the Omicron variant is highly transmissible but explained that it will take at least two weeks or more to determine how much this variant affects the preventive efficacy of currently available vaccines.

In addition, Johnson & Johnson, which developed the Janssen vaccine, is evaluating the effectiveness of existing vaccines and stated that it will begin developing vaccines targeting Omicron if necessary.

Pharmaceutical companies have previously worked on designing vaccines to quickly respond to new variants, but the booster shots currently in use are based on the original vaccines developed initially.

However, experts believe that considering the characteristics of Omicron, this time may be different.

Morgan Stanley analyst Matthew Harrison said, "The likelihood of needing an Omicron booster shot is higher," and predicted that the related market size could reach $20 billion to $50 billion (approximately 23.7 trillion to 59.4 trillion KRW) next year.