SK Bioscience's shingles vaccine Skyzoster has recorded the highest domestic sales for two consecutive years, as SK Bioscience enhances its technological capabilities by successfully developing various core vaccine products in-house.
According to market research firm IQVIA on the 19th, Skyzoster was administered 310,159 doses last year in South Korea, making it the most widely administered shingles vaccine domestically. Other shingles vaccines include GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)'s Shingrix with 224,334 doses and MSD's Zostavax with 223,842 doses administered.
While the actual number of vaccinations is expected to be higher, the company analyzed that "as interest in shingles disease increases, local governments are conducting free shingles vaccination programs, and Skyzoster appears to have been utilized at a high rate."
In fact, according to the Public Procurement Service's '2023 Local Government Shingles Vaccine Tender Announcement,' all 39 public health centers nationwide that conducted free shingles vaccinations last year purchased live vaccines. Among the three types of shingles vaccines currently distributed in South Korea, Skyzoster and Zostavax are live vaccines, while Shingrix is an inactivated vaccine. Live vaccines are vaccines with the pathogenicity of live pathogens removed, whereas inactivated vaccines are vaccines in which pathogens are cultured and then inactivated by heat or chemical agents.
Currently, the cost for live vaccines is approximately 150,000 to 160,000 KRW on average, while inactivated vaccines cost between 500,000 and 600,000 KRW. With this price competitiveness, Skyzoster is known to show better efficacy in alleviating severity after infection.
Inspection and packaging of the influenza vaccine 'Skycellflu' are underway at SK Bioscience L House in Andong-si, Gyeongbuk. [Photo by SK Bioscience]
SK Bioscience is also accelerating market expansion in other vaccine fields. Skycellflu, the influenza vaccine whose production and supply were temporarily halted due to COVID-19 vaccine production, made a spectacular comeback by winning the largest bid of 2.42 million doses in the 2023?2024 national influenza vaccination tender.
The company cites the manufacturing method as Skycellflu's competitive advantage. Skycellflu is the only cell-cultured influenza vaccine currently on the market. Since the vaccine is produced by culturing animal cells in sterile bioreactors, it does not use antibiotics or preservatives. Moreover, it avoids issues such as vaccination hesitancy among those with egg allergies or egg anaphylaxis, which arise from the egg-based method used by other vaccines.
Exports are also being pursued. Skycellflu has obtained product approval in a total of 12 countries and recently started exports of the southern hemisphere formulation to Thailand, targeting markets across both hemispheres. Additionally, the varicella vaccine Skyvaricella obtained product approval in Mexico earlier this year, and the typhoid vaccine Skytyphoid received World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification (PQ) certification in February, planning to expand global distribution channels through public procurement markets and more.
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