- CEPI grants up to 14.2 million USD of funding to support development of a vaccine against COVID-19 variants

- Additional award of up to 12.5 million USD to develop ´GBP510´ scale-up manufacturing process to commercial scale. SK bioscience has been awarded with total 40.3 million USD for development of ´GBP510 to date.

- SK bioscience will accelerate development of vaccine using GBP510 platform and, if proven safe and effective, will supply vaccines globally through COVAX facility

SK bioscience announced on the 10th that the company will receive up to 14.2 million USD from CEPI for development of a vaccine candidate against COVID-19 variant utilizing platform of ‘GBP510’, which is currently in clinical stage. SK bioscience will also receive additional support from CEPI of up to 12.5 million USD for process development to advance GBP510 to commercial manufacturing scale.

As a result, SK bioscience receives a total of 40.3 million USD for GBP510 development, from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for development of a vaccine candidate and pre-clinical study, and CEPI for on-going Phase I/II clinical trial.

This investment forms part of CEPI’s broader approach to combat the threat posed by SARS-CoV-2 variants. SK bioscience plans to establish a broad spectrum of countermeasures against COVID-19, based on its platform technology.

SK bioscience plans to continuously discuss with CEPI for potential collaboration in next stage such as a Phase III clinical trial and further with the aim of successful development of GBP510.

GBP510 is a vaccine candidate against COVID-19 which was developed in collaboration with the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington, and wased as CEPI’s vaccine candidate for “Wave 2” (next-generation COVID-19 vaccine) development project.

If GBP510 is proven to be safe and effective, it will be supplied globally through COVAX Facility and aims to meet various global needs in terms of storage condition, productivity and immune response.

In particular, with support by CEPI, SK bioscience plans to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 variants of concern identified in South Africa and other regions, utilizing the platform technology of GBP510.

As SARS-CoV2 is spreading through continuous mutation, causing an increase in deaths and reinfection cases across the world, and render the effectiveness of vaccines and treatments, the need for countermeasures for this is high.

Once SK bioscience develops vaccine candidates against variant, it will explore multi-pronged approach such as booster shots and bivalent vaccines for coronavirus variants.

Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI said: “The rapid emergence of new COVID-19 variants has huge implications for vaccination campaigns across the world and the speed with which we can end this pandemic.

We have now entered a new and much less predictable phase of the pandemic. While there is much we don’t yet know about the variants first identified in the UK, South Africa, Brazil, and elsewhere, we know that they pose a grave threat that should not be underestimated.

If we are to secure the gains we have made in the past year, and end the acute phase of this pandemic as soon as possible, we must move with the utmost urgency to control the spread of these variants. Today, CEPI also launches its 5-year plan to substantially reduce, and in the long-term even eliminate, the risk of epidemic and pandemic diseases, including coronaviruses. If we are to achieve this future, we must act now by investing in crucial R&D to optimize our vaccination strategies and technologies.”

Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience said, “We are pleased to enter into extended partnership with CEPI to research and develop a vaccine against COVID-19 variant. We will accomplish development for the vaccine candidate to the new variants of the COVID-19 virus swiftly utilizing the vaccine platform technology in due course. We will keep pursuing our endeavor to overcome the pandemic with responsibility”

Separately, SK bioscience is considered to complete COVID-19 vaccine portfolio in a comprehensive manner, such as in-house vaccine development using its platform technology, contract manufacturing, and technology transfer from a global player.

GBP510 has recently entered Phase I/II clinical trials, accelerating its development under the cooperation of global pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK bioscience), and conducting clinical trial for ´NBP2001´, another COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

In addition, SK bioscience is manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in UK, and Novavax, and signed an licensing agreement with Novavax for manufacturing and supply of Novavax’ COVID-19 vaccine ´NVX-CoV2372’ for Korean market.

As SK bioscience was designated as an acting organization for ´Domestic Distribution Management System Establishment and Operation for COVID-19 Vaccine´ project of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), SK bioscience is in charge of distribution, storage, cold chain establishment, and logistics of COVID-19 vaccines in Korea.