[Breaking] Government to Advance Pre-Purchase of 10 Million Doses of SK Bioscience's Domestic COVID-19 Vaccine

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] On the 23rd, the government held the 12th meeting of the "Intergovernmental Support Committee for COVID-19 Therapeutics and Vaccine Development" and announced that it will promote the advance purchase of up to 10 million doses of the domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine by SK Bioscience.

The government explained that SK Bioscience's COVID-19 vaccine 'GBP510' under development met the advance purchase prerequisites of announcing the second interim results and approval of the third clinical trial plan, which were decided at the 10th meeting held last June, as the reason for selecting it as the advance purchase target.

SK Bioscience's GBP510 received approval for its phase 3 clinical trial plan in August and is currently conducting phase 3 trials on a total of 3,990 subjects globally, including more than 500 in Korea. Furthermore, on the 5th of last month, it announced successful phase 1 and 2 clinical results, confirming the formation of neutralizing antibodies that neutralize the COVID-19 virus in over 99% of the group administered with an adjuvant.

Based on these results, the government comprehensively reviewed safety, immunogenicity, and usability, and decided to advance purchase SK Bioscience's GBP510. Specific contract terms will be discussed in practical negotiations, and the advance purchase contract is expected to be signed soon.

Meanwhile, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has allocated 192 billion KRW in next year's budget for the advance purchase of domestic vaccines.