SK bioscience's typhoid vaccine approved for export

L House, SK bioscience's manufacturing facility in Andong, North Gyeongsang. [SK BIOSCIENCE]

SK bioscience's typhoid vaccine was approved for export by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

SKYTyphoid is the Korean vaccine maker's sixth vaccine after two flu vaccines, a herpes zoster vaccine, a chicken pox vaccine and a pneumococcal vaccine.

With the green light from the health regulators, the company aims to start supplying the vaccines to the global market as early as next year, mainly for underdeveloped countries.

According to the results of its Phase 3 clinical trials, the vaccine showed high immunogenicity and safety. The clinical trials were conducted on a total of 2,160 healthy people in Nepal aged between six months and 44.

Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria, which can spread throughout the body affecting organs. Common symptoms include fever and headache and mostly children are affected. Typhoid is rare in developed countries, but still a serious health threat in the developing world, SK said.

Around 20 million people are infected with typhoid every year in underdeveloped countries, which leads to some 160,000 deaths, according to data provided by the World Health Organization.

SK has been working with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) on SKYTyphoid since 2013. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, SK bioscience was in charge of conducting research, manufacturing and gaining approvals, while IVI was responsible for conducting global clinical trials.

If commercialized, manufacturing will be entirely done in L House, SK bioscience's manufacturing facility in Andong, North Gyeongsang.

"IVI is very pleased that SK bioscience’s SKYTyphoid has been licensed by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety,” IVI Director General Dr. Jerome Kim said. “This is the culmination of an exemplary global public-private partnership that has brought yet another vaccine against one of the world’s neglected diseases. IVI is committed to collaborating with SK bioscience and other vaccine developers around the world to accelerate the discovery, development and delivery of vaccines for global public health.”

The size of the global typhoid vaccine market was about $262.8 million in 2019, and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9.3 percent to reach $525 million by 2028.

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