SK Bioscience signs vaccine deal with disease control agency

L House, SK Bioscience's manufacturing plant in Andong, North Gyeongsang [SK BIOSCIENCE]

SK Bioscience signed a 200 billion won ($165 million) deal with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency for the supply of GBP510, its Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

The contract is for 10 million vaccine doses. SK Bioscience will start supplying the vaccine to the government as soon as the company finishes Phase 3 clinical trials.

GBP510 is expected to gain marketing approval from the Korean government, as well as emergency use approval from the World Health Organization as early as in the first half of this year, SK Bioscience said. It recently applied to Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for a rolling review of the vaccine.

The Pangyo, Gyeonggi-based company is conducting a clinical trial to test the candidate's safety and efficacy as a booster shot. A total of 550 adults who have participated in the candidate's Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials will be administrated with the vaccine six months after their first doses.

SK is scheduled to start the trials on adolescents in the first half.

"GBP510 is the fruit of cooperation between SK's technology, the government's determination to become a biopharmaceutical powerhouse, and global institutions that support the development of vaccines with the goal to protect the public's health," SK Bioscience CEO Ahn Jae-yong said Monday. "Starting with GBP510, SK Bioscience will become a company that leads the global vaccine market by developing more products that can prevent various viruses."

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]