Investing 7.6 trillion won in vaccine purchases during the pandemic… Speeding up the development of ‘domestic mRNA vaccine’

by times news cr

2024-05-14 07:49:14

How mRNA vaccines work

Quarantine authorities, who have paid enormous costs for COVID-19 quarantine, are accelerating the development of a ‘domestic mRNA vaccine’ in preparation for new infectious diseases that may occur again in the future.

From 2020 to last year, 7.6 trillion won was spent on overseas vaccine companies in response to COVID-19, and it is believed that vaccine sovereignty should be established by securing mRNA vaccine technology to reduce import costs and ensure stable supply.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency held a press conference at the Seoul Press Center on the morning of the 14th and announced a plan to develop a domestic COVID-19 mRNA vaccine by 2027 through a strategic cooperation system between companies as a ‘measure to secure mRNA vaccine sovereignty in preparation for future pandemics’.

Director Ji Young-mi of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said, “We will speed up as much as possible to develop a safe and effective domestically produced COVID-19 mRNA vaccine by 2027,” and added, “To this end, we will provide a package that includes clinical trials and production centered on promising companies with high-potential technology.” “We will support bold R&D,” he said.

mRNA vaccines form immunity by injecting mRNA that causes the same spike protein as the virus to sprout on the surface of cells in the body.

To put it simply, there is a spike protein on the surface of the virus that is responsible for penetrating human cells. mRNA contains the genetic information of the spike protein of the virus and plays a role in teaching the cells in our body how to make spikes.

In other words, when an mRNA vaccine is injected into our muscles, the mRNA gives a genetic command to “make the coronavirus spike protein,” and our body cells that receive this command make the spike protein and act as an antigen. We are well known for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

This is why the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency is accelerating the development of mRNA vaccines. Because mRNA vaccines utilize genetic information, they have advantages over existing vaccines in terms of speed, usability, and safety.

Lee Jeong-min, head of the Infectious Disease Division at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s Infectious Disease Research Institute, said, “If we establish a major technological foundation for mRNA vaccine development, rapid design and production is possible by adding only genetic information. Moderna and Pfizer also use mRNA technology, taking about 16 weeks for initial development.” “It’s done,” he explained.

Jang Hee-chang, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases at the Korea Disease Agency, said, “mRNA vaccines can also respond quickly to mutations. In terms of mutations, there is no technology that can follow mRNA, so development is needed in terms of new infectious diseases and mutant viruses.” said.

In addition to infectious diseases, it can be used to develop cancer vaccines and treatments for AIDS and autoimmune diseases. It is also evaluated as relatively safe because the virus is not directly injected into the body.

Manager Lee said, “Experiencing COVID-19, I was able to see that mRNA vaccines are an important technology as a game changer.” He added, “Securing a vaccine is the only fundamental solution to a pandemic, and we have an mRNA vaccine with a dramatically faster development speed of 3 to 6 months.” “It’s important,” he emphasized.

The development of mRNA vaccines is also an important factor in preventing the outflow of national wealth.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the cost of purchasing vaccines from overseas companies in the course of responding to COVID-19 from 2020 to last year amounted to approximately 7.6 trillion won.

On the other hand, Japan invested 930 billion won in three private pharmaceutical companies during the COVID-19 period and succeeded in developing an mRNA vaccine in August last year and began vaccination.

Son Young-rae, Director of the Infectious Disease Crisis Management Department at the Korea Disease Administration, said, “The cost of importing mRNA vaccines is hundreds of billions of won every year, and if mRNA vaccines are not developed independently, we will have to continue to invest in imported vaccines.” He added, “(If we develop our own vaccine), Moderna “The hundreds of billions of won paid annually to foreign companies such as Pfizer can be converted into domestic funds,” he said.

However, the technological gap between domestic companies and the United States is widening due to the distributed development and possession of core technologies in five fields and limitations in capital power.

Commissioner Ji Young-mi said, “Even in Korea, there are independently secured technologies related to mRNA vaccines, but no company possesses all five core technologies at once, and there are several companies that possess one or two of them at a time. Our goal is to create a good consortium of these companies.” “The technology gap with advanced countries is believed to be 3 to 4 years, and if the government provides full support, we expect that the development of an mRNA vaccine will be possible by 2027,” he said.

In addition, we will pursue bold R&D support, including clinical trials, focusing on companies with high potential. We provide initial support to several promising companies, but evaluate them step by step and provide support for next-stage clinical trials to excellent companies.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency plans to proceed with non-clinical trials in 2025 → Phase 1 clinical trials in 2025-2026 → Phase 2 clinical trials in 2026-2027 → Phase 3 clinical trials and commercialization in 2026-2027.

To this end, we plan to provide various technical support packages necessary for mRNA vaccine development, centered on the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and quickly resolve related regulations such as licensing and patents that impede development at a reasonable level.

Additionally, a government-wide integrated support system will be established. We plan to use the Prime Minister’s Biohealth Innovation Committee to check progress, and form a ‘Pandemic Preparedness mRNA Vaccine Localization Development Support Team’ within the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency by 2028 to operate as a pan-ministerial organization.

Commissioner Ji said, “Achieving the goal of developing an mRNA vaccine by 2027 is a fairly challenging goal, so it is important for all ministries to do it, and cooperation with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety is especially important,” adding, “The government is conducting clinical trials to develop COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.” “Based on our know-how in support, we will focus on providing technical and institutional support and resolving regulations by referring to the innovative development support systems of advanced countries such as Japan,” he emphasized.

Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon photo provided by Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency

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2024-05-14 07:49:14

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