SK bioscience announced that the company made a new partnership agreement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) for the development of mRNA vaccines to quickly respond to the spread of infectious diseases and to expand its vaccine portfolio.
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Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, Park Min-soo, Second Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), Chang Won (Andrew) Chey, Vice Chairman of SK discovery, and Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience attended the signing ceremony at Grand Walkerhill Seoul and discussed continuous cooperation between the two organizations for the development of mRNA vaccines.
The purpose of the agreement is that SK bioscience, which has secured the latest vaccine platform technologies such as cell culture, bacterial culture, and genetic recombination, expands its portfolio including the mRNA platform technology and establishes an R&D system that can prevent existing or unknown viruses in the future with global institutions. The Company will use the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and Lassa virus to develop the mRNA vaccine platform.
SK bioscience is the CEPI’s first partner among global vaccine companies under the CEPI’s project of ‘RNA vaccine platform technologies and vaccine library development against emerging and endemic infectious diseases’ to quickly respond to unknown infectious diseases (Disease-X) and solve the vaccine equity in low- and middle-income countries.
Under the agreement, SK bioscience will receive up to 140 million USD in R&D expenses from CEPI. Up to 40 million USD in initial funding will be made available to support phase 1/2 clinical trials of two mRNA vaccine platform projects. Pending results from phase 1/2 studies, a further $100 million in funding could be made available to support late-stage trials/licensure to further validate the mRNA platform and have it ready for use in outbreak situations.
SK bioscience and CEPI also agreed to expand cooperation on developing various vaccines based on the mRNA platform to respond to the spread of infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries.
Earlier, SK bioscience had the partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in order to build the mRNA vaccine platform. The Company has been conducting the preclinical study on the mRNA vaccine platform using the COVID-19 virus with 2 million USD funded by the Foundation. The study is an important technology foundation for the collaboration project with CEPI.
SK bioscience will rapidly respond to the spread of infectious diseases based on the mRNA vaccine platform and global network. In particular, the Company plans to consolidate its global position by strengthening its portfolio with the mRNA vaccine platform and by developing new pipeline such as RSV vaccines, CMV vaccines, and anti-cancer vaccines using the mRNA platform. ■