SK bioscience to speed up global distribution of its Covid-19 vaccine

SKYCovione, a homegrown Covid-19 vaccine developed by SK bioscience. [SK BIOSCIENCE]

SK bioscience is set to speed up the global distribution of SKYCovione, its Covid-19 vaccine.

The vaccine maker said Monday it has applied to the European Medicines Agency for conditional use authorization for SKYCovione. This comes just a few days after the company applied for approval from Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

SKYCovione was approved for use by Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in late June. It is Korea's first domestically-developed Covid-19 vaccine.

Co-developed with the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, SKYCovione is a recombinant vaccine that uses protein antigens. Inside the body, the antigens stimulate an immune response that creates antibodies to fight off the virus in case of infection.

The size of the global Covid-19 vaccine market was valued at some $65.6 billion last year, about double the whole vaccine market excluding Covid-19, according to data from market tracker Airfinity. This year, the size is expected to grow 30 percent to $85 billion.

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