SK Group chair calls for redoubling of vaccine efforts

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, center in the first row, speaks with the researchers at SK Bioscience in a teleconference on Monday. [SK GROUP]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won encouraged researchers at the group’s biopharmaceutical unit to focus on the development of a vaccine against the coronavirus after SK Bioscience began clinical tests on animals of a substance that might be used in a vaccine. The chairman held a teleconference with employees at the unit’s headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi, on Monday.

“With the coronavirus continuing to spread, people’s high expectations for a vaccine is inevitable,” Chey said during the digital meeting.

“The intense attention toward the vaccine could come across as pressure, but I hope for the best result, which could be made possible through your foremost effort,” he said.

The chairman kept track of the progress on the initiative, while asking details about the potential treatment.

One of the inquiries involved whether the vaccine under development could also treat a new variant of the coronavirus.

“A [vaccine] platform could serve as the basis,” said one of the participating researchers in a statement.

“Using the platform, we could develop a new vaccine for the variant of the coronavirus at a quick pace,” the researcher said.

The event follows a video conference last Thursday with SK Bioscience researchers who work overseas, including in China, Japan, the United States and the EU.

SK Bioscience announced last month that it started animal experiments on a potential substance for a Covid-19 vaccine. The company plans to start clinical trials for the material as early as September.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention works with the unit to carry out domestic and international clinical trials of the potential Covid-19 vaccine.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]