The continued spread of the new Omicron variant has prompted Korean vaccine makers to review whether to develop Omicron-targeted Covid-19 vaccines.
Industry sources said Eyegene, mCureX Therapeutics, and Eubiologics are mulling developing a new Omicron-specific vaccine or a polyvalent vaccine.
On Wednesday last week, Eyegene, which is working on a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine candidate EG-COVID, said it would develop a new vaccine to tackle Omicron.
Eyegene said it would continue to develop EG-COVID, along with a new Omicron-targeted vaccine. The company is testing EG-COVID in a local phase 1 trial.
At a biotech investment conference on Monday, mCureX Therapeutics said it began researching an mRNA vaccine candidate to fight the Omicron variant.
Hong Sun-woo, CEO of mCureX, who was a speaker at the conference, said the company analyzed the nucleotide sequence of the Omicron variant and plasmid production was in progress for mRNA synthesis. “We will take advantage of an mRNA platform that can easily respond to mutations,” he said.
mCureX is a subsidiary of Olix Pharmaceuticals, specializing in mRNA vaccines and treatments.
In partnership with Samyang Holdings and TriLink BioTechnologies for mRNA vaccine development, the company said it would apply for a local phase 1 trial of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate in late 2022.
Eubiologics, which applied for a local phase 3 study of synthetic antigen vaccine EuCorVac-19 in October, also plans to deal with the Omicron variant.
The company is internally reviewing two scenarios, sources said. One is to develop a new vaccine to fight Omicron. The other is to develop a polyvalent vaccine, which combines the experimental “universal vaccine” targeting the Delta variant with added efficacy against Omicron.
Earlier, Eubiologics signed an MOU with BioNote to develop a new antigen.
SK Bioscience said it would continue to work on synthetic antigen Covid-19 vaccine GBP510. The company is testing the vaccine in a global phase 3 study.
“We’re closely monitoring developments of the Omicron variant,” an official at SK Bioscience said. “But we’re focusing on GBP510 development now.”
company should complete the vaccine development first to work on a new platform for Omicron, he added.
Some industry officials said it remains to be seen how the Omicron variant spread will unfold.
“Researchers have found that Omicron is indeed highly contagious, but we do not know other information of the variant,” an industry executive said. “Vaccine makers will develop an Omicron-targeted vaccine if necessary, but if Omicron’s fatality turns out to be similar to that of influenza, the companies might be wasting their time. “We will have to wait and see how the situation goes.”