SK bioscience - Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine

Up to $14.2 million of funding will support development of a vaccine against COVID-19 variants of concern The expanded partnership will also include up to an additional $12.5 million to scale-up manufacturing to hundreds of millions of doses. OSLO/SEOUL, 10 March 2021'ÄîCEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and SK bioscience today announced an expanded partnership to develop a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 variants. CEPI will provide up to $14.2 million to support the adaptation of SK bioscience's recombinant protein vaccine candidate (GBP510) for use against "variants of concern", such as the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa. In parallel, CEPI will also be providing up to $12.5 million to help SK bioscience advance their manufacturing methods to full commercial scale, enabling the production of hundreds of millions of doses. The GBP510 candidate'Äîwhich is undergoing Phase 1/2 testing in South Korea'Äîis manufactured using a nanoparticle platform. CEPI announced up to $10 million towards the cost of Phase 1/2 trials in Dec, 2020. This funding was part of a joint programme with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support development of 'ÄòWave 2' candidates that are differentiated from those already in advanced development and are suitable for use in multiple settings (eg, vaccines that have improved temperature stability, have manufacturing scalability, and also have improved or differentiated immune responses). Race against viral mutation The virus that causes COVID-19 is constantly mutating. Variant B.1.1.7 (first identified in the UK) is up to 70% more transmissible than the virus that emerged in Wuhan and has since been confirmed to be associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation and death. Variants B.1.351 and P.1 (identified in South Africa and Brazil, respectively) are even more concerning. They spread rapidly, can reinfect people who have been infected before, and they are rendering our countermeasures'Äîincluding our vaccines and monoclonal-antibody treatments'Äîless effective. The increased transmissibility of these variants could result in a reversal in the global downward trends in transmission seen in recent weeks resulting in a renewed burden on health systems, and more deaths. Equitable access key to ending acute phase of pandemic The rate of viral mutation is a function of the global spread of the virus, so it is imperative to control transmission everywhere. SK bioscience and CEPI are, therefore, committed to enabling global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and have agreed that hundreds of millions of doses of this vaccine candidate will be made available to the COVAX Facility for procurement and allocation, if proven to be safe and effective. The COVAX Facility aims to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, at all levels of development, that wish to participate. To date, more than 25 million COVAX doses have already been delivered to over 30 countries, with the aim of distributing 2 billion doses globally in 2021.