Prestige Biopharma Collaborates with Australian Vaccine Company 'Baksin' on COVID-19 Vaccine Supply and Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Prestige BioPharma announced on the 30th that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australian vaccine development company Vaxine to cooperate on the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and the development of combined COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.

The COVID-19 vaccine 'Spikogen' developed by Vaxine is a vaccine that includes recombinant viral proteins and an immune adjuvant. Through this agreement, Prestige plans to negotiate production and distribution rights for Spikogen in the future. Spikogen is currently under review for approval by Australian authorities and was granted emergency use authorization in the Middle East last October.

This agreement also includes joint development cooperation for a combined vaccine that can simultaneously prevent coronavirus and influenza. The two companies plan to collaborate on joint research for economical and safe recombinant protein vaccines against various infectious diseases by leveraging Vaxine's extensive vaccine development experience.

Nikolai Petrovsky, CEO of Vaxine, stated, "We plan to actively cooperate not only on COVID-19 vaccines and combined COVID-19 and influenza vaccines but also on the research and development of H7N9 avian influenza vaccines and Japanese encephalitis vaccines that our company has been pursuing."

Park So-yeon, CEO of Prestige BioPharma, said, "Through this agreement with Vaxine, a vaccine-specialized development company that has conducted numerous vaccine projects with the U.S. government over a long period, we plan to carry out various vaccine development projects to prepare for the upcoming endemic COVID-19 era," adding, "We will continue to collaborate with leading global vaccine research institutions and companies to develop competitive new vaccines and advance contract manufacturing businesses."