Shining Lights
SK bioscience, a global innovative vaccine and biotech company committed to promoting human health from prevention to cure, and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) have jointly announced Profs. Andrew Pollard and Sarah Gilbert and Drs. Rino Rappuoli and Mariagrazia Pizza as two groups of co-recipients of the second IVI-SK bioscience Park ManhHoon Award.
The Park MahnHoon Award, sponsored by SK bioscience and hosted by the IVI annually, honors up to two international individuals and groups that made extraordinary contributions to the discovery, development, and delivery of vaccines and the advancement of global health.
The award was launched in 2022 to commemorate the legacy of the late Vice Chairman Dr. Park MahnHoon of SK bioscience.
The winners of the award this year are Professor Andrew Pollard and Professor Sarah Gilbert of the University of Oxford, and Dr. Rino Rappuoli and Dr. Mariagrazia Pizza of GlaxoSmithCline (GSK).
Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Oxford, led the clinical development of the Oxford/AZ COVID-19 vaccine across 3 continents, one of the first and most widely administered vaccines in the fight against the pandemic. He has extensively conducted clinical, basic and epidemiological research crucial to the understanding of the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases and has led pioneering work on meningococcal, pneumococcal, typhoid, and COVID-19 vaccines that underpins global policy on immunization against these diseases.
Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford and a co-inventor of the Oxford/AZ vaccine, was the driving force behind the creation of this novel adenoviral vectored COVID vaccine in readiness for clinical development. More than 3.1 billion doses of the vaccine have been released for supply to over 180 countries, including over 580 million doses to COVAX for low- and middle-income countries, or about 31 percent of all COVAX supplies. As a leader of vaccine advocacy, she is also the author of the book “Vaxxers: The Inside Story of the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine and the Race Against the Virus.” Her work also focuses on the rapid transfer of vaccines into GMP manufacturing and first in human trials as part of efforts to accelerate the development and introduction of new vaccines.
Dr. Rino Rappuoli and Dr. Mariagrazia Pizza jointly developed a vaccine against Meningococcus B, a disease that most frequently hits infants aged under 1 year, as well as children and adolescents. This vaccine is now licensed (Bexero) and has shown to be highly efficacious in preventing the disease. Dr. Rappuoli, the scientific director at Biotecnopolo di Siena Foundation in Italy and former chief scientist at GSK Vaccines, pioneered the use of genomic information for vaccine development (“reverse vaccinology”), which resulted in the licensure of the world’s first meningococcus B vaccine. He also characterized a molecule, CRM197, that today is the most widely used carrier for vaccines against H. influenzae, N. meningitidis and pneumococcus vaccines, and is used to vaccinate most children worldwide.
The winners were chosen by a committee of 12 experts, including Dr. Jerome Kim, director general of IVI, and Dr. Hun Kim, global R&BD president of SK bioscience, after screening individuals and organizations that have achieved meaningful results in the research, development, and distribution of vaccines.
SK bioscience contributes a 200 million won (US$151,967) prize every year to promote the development of the global vaccine industry. The awards ceremony will be held on April 25th, the second anniversary of Dr. Park’s passing.
Dr. Jerome Kim said, “IVI, jointly with SK bioscience, is pleased to honor Profs. Andrew Pollard and Sarah Gilbert as a team of co-recipients and Drs. Rino Rappuoli and Mariagrazia Pizza as another team of co-recipients of the second IVI-SKBS Park MahnHoon Award. These two groups of vaccine champions have spearheaded the development of vaccines against COVID-19 and meningitis, respectively, which have saved numerous lives and advanced vaccine science and global public health.”
Dr. Hun Kim said, “Vaccine development is a task that must be carried out with the single goal of promoting the health of humanity by overcoming the fear of uncertainties and the long time required. By building upon the spirit of the late Vice Chairman Park MahnHoon who made significant contributions to the global health sector, SK bioscience will continue to take the lead in developing vaccines and ensuring equitable vaccine supply in collaboration with IVI.”
Dr. Park MahnHoon (1957-2021) is a vaccine pioneer who is credited for elevating South Korea’s vaccine R&D capabilities up to the global standard while leading the company’s vaccine and R&D projects. His contributions include the joint development of an innovative pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) with SANOFI-Pasteur, and the development of a novel typhoid conjugate vaccine (licensed in Korea in 2022) in collaboration with IVI with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition, he took the lead in establishing domestic vaccine sovereignty through the rapid development and localization of safe and effective vaccines based on cell culture technology. SK bioscience’s world-first cell-cultured quadrivalent flu vaccine (2015), pneumococcal vaccine (2016), and the world’s second shingles vaccine (2017) are some of the major achievements of Dr. Park, who devoted his entire life to vaccine research.