SOUTH KOREA — SK bioscience has been granted US$140 million in funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop mRNA technology to quickly respond to infectious diseases.
SK Bioscience will develop a new RNA vaccine platform for new endemic diseases and vaccine library to quickly respond to “disease-X” and solve the vaccine supply imbalance.
Disease X is a placeholder name adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to represent a hypothetical, unknown pathogen that could cause a future epidemic.
SK Bioscience’s first mission will investigate the mRNA vaccine platform using the Japanese encephalitis virus and the Lassa fever virus. Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF) is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus.
The purpose of the agreement is that SK bioscience, which has secured the latest vaccine platform technologies such as cell culture, bacterial culture, and genetic recombination, expands its portfolio including the mRNA platform technology, and establishes an R&D system that can prevent existing or unknown viruses in the future with global institutions, according to the company’s news release
CEPI will contribute US$140 million, with US$40 million going toward first and second-stage clinical trials for two mRNA vaccine platform research tasks. Another US$100 million will be provided in the Phase 3 trials.
SK Bioscience and CEPI also agreed to expand their collaboration on the development of various vaccines based on the mRNA platform in order to combat the spread of infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries.
Earlier, SK Biosciences conducted a preclinical study on its mRNA vaccine platform using the Covid-19 virus with US$2 million funded by the foundation.
The agreement between SK Bioscience and CEPI follows a recent price increase in SK Bioscience’s shares after Pfizer announced plans to raise the price of its Covid-19 vaccine in the United States.
During a recent investor call, Pfizer revealed that it is considering charging a private-market price of US$110 to US$130 per dose for Comirnaty, its Covid-19 vaccine, which is four times the current US$30 price tag.
An SK Bioscience official, on the other hand, stated that the company is not currently discussing a price increase for its vaccine.
In an event that Covid-19 resurgence becomes a reality and Pfizer increases its vaccine price, SK Bioscience’s vaccine may become more competitive.
SK Bioscience also stated that it will strengthen its portfolio with the mRNA vaccine platform and develop new pipeline products such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccines, Cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccines, and anti-cancer vaccines using the mRNA platform.
Since last year, SK bioscience has been cooperating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for two mRNA projects.
From 2020, SK Bioscience has received a total of US$213.7 million in funding from CEPI and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the development of SKYCovione, the country’s first Covid-19 vaccine developed domestically.
The vaccine has received use approvals from Korea and the United Kingdom, and it is awaiting approvals from the United States Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.
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