NIH, urgently promotes 2019n-CoV vaccine research

Accumulated research on new and variant virus in Korea after MERS

It is scheduled to begin this month, including the cost of 800 million won and the study of virus pathogenicity

Health authorities urgently push forward research to develop 2019n-CoV treatments and vaccines.

 

After the MERS outbreak, it will strengthen its research capabilities and begin research on viral pathogenicity within this month.

 

The National Institutes of Health (Director Hyun-Young Park), in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Director Eun-kyung Chung), announced on the 5th that it is urgently pursuing research on the development of treatments and vaccines to cope with 2019n-CoV that threaten public health worldwide.

 

The National Institutes of Health has conducted research on new and variant viruses in Korea through the development of antibody therapeutics and high-sensitivity gene diagnostics after the MERS outbreak in 2015.

 

Based on the accumulated technology, the NIH will collaborate with domestic researchers to launch 2019n-CoV treatment, vaccine development, and viral pathogenicity research in February.

 

In detail, the cost of this research is ₩800 million, which is divided into clinical, therapeutic, vaccines, and pathogenic analysis.

 

In the clinical and therapeutic sectors, the hospital-centered network is used to study the clinical immunological characteristics of domestic patients and to develop a wide range of antigens and antibodies for the development of therapeutic antibodies.

 

The vaccine division studies DNA vaccines, major antigen production, various types of vaccines including vaccine antigen carriers and inactivated vaccines, and development of efficacy evaluation techniques for vaccines.

 

Pathogenicity analysis includes the analysis of the major genetic variants of the 2019n-CoV and the prediction of its evolution.

 

In addition, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Science and ICT will cooperate with relevant ministries and industry-university research institutes to expand preemptively prepare for and respond to the emergence of new and variant viruses including 2019n-CoV.

 

In the case of the Ministry of Welfare, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will undertake the National Life Safety Emergency Response Study.

 

Sung-soon Kim, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the National Institutes of Health, said, "This urgent research project will play a pivotal role in the research of new and transformed infectious diseases and lay the groundwork for the development of 2019n-CoV treatments and vaccines at the national level".

 

Meanwhile, there are no specific treatments or vaccines for 2019n-CoV infections, so countries around the world are using symptomatic therapy and existing antiviral agents and developing vaccines and treatments.

 

Overseas funding and technology are supported by the international cooperation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

 

Ebola virus treatment (Remdesivir) and HIV treatment (Lopinavir, Ritonavir) are also being evaluated for efficacy.