Planned Support Through Phase 2 Clinical Trials
"Challenging Schedule to Deliver Results Within 2 Years"
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] ST Pharm and iGene have been selected as companies eligible for clinical support for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines responding to new and variant infectious diseases, hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and the National Institute of Health announced the results of the "1st New Project Competition for New and Variant Infectious Disease mRNA Vaccine Project Group" on the 26th to support clinical and non-clinical development of mRNA vaccines for new and variant infectious diseases.
Among the total 13 projects submitted through this competition, ST Pharm and iGene were selected for 2 clinical trial support projects, and Curatis, International Vaccine Institute (IVI), NES Biotechnology, Quad Medicine, Jeonbuk National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, RNA Gene, Sogang University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, and others were selected for 7 non-clinical trial support projects, totaling 9 new projects.
ST Pharm plans to establish a full-cycle COVID mRNA vaccine platform in the form of a mock-up vaccine, and iGene will develop a multi-valent mRNA vaccine system for COVID variant prevention. Previously, Hong Ki-jong, head of the New and Variant Infectious Disease mRNA Vaccine Project Group, announced the policy to support these clinical support projects up to phase 2 clinical trials. Curatis will also receive non-clinical support for simultaneous development of tuberculosis mRNA preventive vaccines and mRNA therapeutics for infected patients.
The finally selected new projects will conduct research aimed at establishing an mRNA vaccine platform and production ecosystem centered on non-clinical and clinical support. After agreements on total research funding, government subsidies, research period, and performance goals for each project, research will begin within this month.
All researchers participating in the selected projects will be provided opportunities not only for government funding support but also to utilize animal testing facilities that are scheduled to sign memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the project group.
Additionally, starting with a kickoff meeting, the project group plans to hold regular councils to facilitate smooth cooperation among participating companies and provide various support measures such as patent consultations related to infectious disease R&D technologies and regulatory approval consulting seminars.
Head Hong said, “Through the challenging clinical support projects aimed at producing clinical trial results within two years, the project group will devote all efforts to establishing rapid production technology and systems for domestic mRNA vaccines,” adding, “We will strengthen the foundation of domestic mRNA vaccine development by concurrently conducting non-clinical R&D of new antigens for follow-up clinical research.”
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