Korean pharmaceuticals are going all out to develop Covid-19 vaccines and treatments with extensive government support but will have to go a long way before reaching their destinations, industry watchers said.

The gloomy outlook came in the wake of news reports on multinationals’ hitting the jackpot on the new coronavirus vaccines.

Moderna, the U.S. biotech company, reported Tuesday that its Covid-19 vaccine, now under development, showed 94.5 percent efficacy in phase 3 clinical trials. Last week, Pfizer and BioNTech announced their vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19.  

"We have produced positive results in the phase 3 trials and obtained the first clinical results that our vaccine could prevent the Covid-19 infection," Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said. "Our vaccine candidate will be a game-changer for the pandemic."

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar appeared on CNBC news and said that the U.S. government would promote the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use approval for Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines to prevent Covid-19 infection.

These initial successes raised the expectations for the mass production of vaccines and advanced inoculation worldwide.

Meanwhile, the Korean government has chosen four companies -- Genexine, SK Bioscience, GeneOne Life Science, and LG Chem – and provided support for their clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines.

However, only Genexine is conducting clinical trials of its vaccine candidate, GX-19, for which phase 1a and 2b trials are underway.

SK Bioscience and GeneOne Life Science applied for clinical tests to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and are waiting for the results.

LG Chem signed an agreement with Sumagen to develop the vaccine after making a deal with bioventure, Cellid, in October. LG Chem plans to cooperate in developing, manufacturing, and marketing the Covid-19 vaccine using Sumagen's technology.