"100 Days from Infectious Disease Discovery to Vaccine... Will Build a Library"

Yoon In-kyu, Director of Innovation Technology at the Infectious Disease Innovation Alliance
'100-Day Vaccine Mission' Announcement
"Proactive Global Response Is Crucial"

Yoon In-kyu, Director of Innovation Technology at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), is giving a lecture on the theme "CEPI's 100-Day Mission to Respond to Epidemic Threats" at '2023 Bio Korea' held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 11th.
[Photo by Lee Myung-hwan]

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has set a goal to complete vaccine development and begin production within 100 days after the discovery of large-scale infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

On the morning of the 11th, Yoon In-kyu, Director of Innovation Technology at CEPI, spoke on the topic "CEPI's 100-Day Mission to Respond to Epidemic Threats" at the '2023 Bio Korea' event held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, stating this goal.

CEPI is an international organization established in 2017 to support rapid vaccine development and equitable distribution of vaccines for new and emerging infectious diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CEPI supported global pharmaceutical companies in developing vaccine candidates and assisted in vaccine distribution to developing countries. South Korea joined CEPI in November 2020.

The 100-day mission CEPI is pursuing aims to reduce the time from the identification of an infectious pathogen to large-scale vaccine production to approximately 100 days. The goal is to shorten the period starting from the initial identification of a pathogen that could cause a large-scale epidemic, through vaccine development and regulatory approval, to the commencement of mass production.

According to Director Yoon, proactive measures are necessary for such rapid vaccine development. During the COVID-19 pandemic, global vaccine companies like Pfizer and Moderna used messenger RNA (mRNA) technology to release vaccines within about 350 days. This speed was possible because these companies had already secured mRNA-related technologies. Generally, vaccine development and production for new infectious diseases take about ten years. Director Yoon said, "Perfect preparation before vaccine development is essential to bridge the gap between development and distribution," adding, "A paradigm and mindset shift toward proactive, rather than reactive, responses after an outbreak is necessary."

Preparations for the 100-day mission include ▲ vaccine libraries ▲ clinical trial and research networks ▲ identification of immune markers ▲ establishment of global manufacturing capacity ▲ pathogen surveillance and early warning systems.

A vaccine library involves classifying and storing pathogens by lineage. After an outbreak, the goal is to accelerate vaccine development by utilizing pathogens stored in the library. CEPI is prioritizing the storage of major pathogen lineages for this purpose. Director Yoon explained, "We are prioritizing viruses, including zoonotic infectious diseases, by modifying existing programs," and added, "We select the lineages with the highest risk."

The vaccine library also presents the possibility of being used for next-generation vaccine platform development. Director Yoon elaborated, "The focus is on safely using future antigens," and added, "It is not about simply using existing technologies like mRNA as they are, but through a series of processes, we may create next-generation platforms."

In addition to vaccine development, accessibility to vaccines was also mentioned. At the early stages of COVID-19 vaccination, issues regarding vaccine supply imbalances between developed and developing countries were raised. Director Yoon stated, "While we emphasize speed and scale of vaccine development, accessibility cannot be ignored," and added, "It is important to consider whether vaccine distribution can be properly carried out when making vaccines, so we are testing ways to ensure vaccines reach everyone."

Above all, Director Yoon emphasized the need for global cooperation in responding to infectious diseases, stating, "(The 100-day mission) cannot be achieved by CEPI alone, so a global-level network is necessary. Cooperation is very important."