SK Bioscience said that it has set about to develop a vaccine to cope with Covid-19 variants with financial support from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an international private organization.

SK Bioscience will receive additional funding support from CEPI to conduct clinical trials to use its Covid-19 vaccine candidate for treating the virus’s variants. (SK Bioscience)
SK Bioscience will receive additional funding support from CEPI to conduct clinical trials to use its Covid-19 vaccine candidate for treating the virus’s variants. (SK Bioscience)

The Korean company will receive up to $14.2 million (about 16 billion won) in research and development funds from CEPI to develop Covid-19 mutants using the development platform of GBP510, for which clinical trials are now underway.

SK Bioscience said it had also received additional funding of a maximum of $12.5 million from CEPI to help finance the manufacturing process's development for expanding the GBP510 process to a commercially viable level.

"The support from CEPI is aimed to respond more broadly to the threat of the Covid-19 mutant virus, and SK Bioscience plans to build an all-round response system against the Covid-19 virus based on its globally recognized technology," the company said.

SK Bioscience stressed that it plans to continue discussions with CEPI during the phase 3 clinical trials and commercialization phase to launch GBP510 successfully.

"The company is pleased to cooperate with CEPI once again for the research and development of a Covid-19 mutant virus vaccine," SK Bioscience CEO Ahn Jae-yong said. "If the company makes the most of its Covid-19 vaccine platform, it will be able to complete the research for using the vaccine to treat Covid-19 variants quickly."

CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett also said, "If our efforts to terminate the pandemic are to bear fruits, we need to cope swiftly with the spread of Covid-19 variants.”

Hatchett stressed that to achieve the goal, CEPI has launched a five-year plan to reduce and eliminate the risk of epidemic diseases, including the novel coronavirus.

"If we are to achieve this future, we must act now by investing in crucial R&D to optimize our vaccination strategies and technologies," he added.

GBP510 is a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that SK Biosciences is developing in collaboration with the University of Washington with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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