[Reporter's view]COVID-19 Vaccine Development in Asia

The development of COVID-19 vaccine in Asian countries is on track.

 

Currently, about 6 companies in South Korea, 4 in Japan, 3 in Taiwan, 2 in Thailand and 1 in Singapore are developing their own COVID-19 vaccine.

 

All have just entered clinical trials or are preparing for large-scale clinical trials.

 

Chinese vaccines whose clinical data are unknown were excluded.

 

Specifically, Daiichi Sankyo, Shionogi, KMB, AnGes MG in Japan, Medigen, United Biomedical , Adimmune in Taiwan took the lead.

 

Chulalongkorn University and Mahidol University are developing in Thailand.

 

In Singapore, Duke-Nus Medical School is also working with Biotech in the U.S.

 

to conduct research and development.

 

Korea is dominated by Genexine, SK Bioscience, EuBiologics, GeneOne, Cellid, and ST Pharm.

 

They made full use of their specialized areas.

 

Genexine and GeneOne Life Sciences, which are the core of DNA technology, will develop DNA vaccines, while ST Pharm, which is specialized for mRNA, will develop LNP-type mRNA vaccines for the first time in Korea.

 

Japan's Daiichi Sankyo and AnGes MG are RNA and DNA-based, respectively, and Thailand's Chulalongkorn University also tests RNA-based vaccines.

 

Although development is slower than Western countries such as the U.S., the U.K., and Germany, it is meaningful to make vaccines with its own technology.

 

This is because even if there is a shortage of vaccines that are contracted for supply, it can be replaced with domestic vaccines.

 

In Korea alone, the supply of COVID-19 vaccines is still unstable.

 

Unexpected side effects may lead to a shortage of supplies.

 

Domestic vaccines will be reliable in unexpected circumstances.

 

In response, the government signed a contract to supply vaccines to its own country preemptively.

 

The Taiwanese government has signed 5 million dose vaccine contracts with Medigen and United Biomedical respectively.

 

There are already some places that are about to produce commercial vaccines.

 

Of course, there are many steps to overcome before vaccines in Asian countries are commercialized.

 

Some of them may not be able to confirm their efficacy and safety, and development may be suspended.

 

Many of them have no actual drug development experience.

 

Although development can be successful without experience in commercialization like Moderna, probability is not high.

 

Nevertheless, it is meaningful in terms of industry development that there are many companies that develop vaccines.

 

Based on this experience, it is an opportunity to develop various kinds of vaccines.

 

This also leads to securing sovereignty over vaccines.

 

Currently, only 16 (57%) of the 28 essential vaccines in Korea have domestic products.

 

Although it has been pushing for projects to support localization for more than 10 years, its performance is slow.

 

In the meantime, it is good to hear that many Korean companies are focusing their efforts on vaccine development.

 

In Taiwan, vaccines from their own countries could first appear as early as July.

 

United has applied for EUA with health authorities on the 27th of last month.

 

In Korea, we also expect a vaccine developed by a Korean company.