SK Bioscience and Novavax to Cooperate for COVID-19 Vaccine Development

SK Bioscience announced on Aug. 13 that it signed a contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) contract with Novavax. According to the contract, Novavax will transfer its antigen production technology for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 to SK Bioscience, which will develop additional processes for the candidate before producing the vaccine in its L House in Andong and supplying it worldwide.

In addition, SK Bioscience and Novavax concluded a letter of intent with the Ministry of Health and Welfare in order to produce NVX-CoV2373 with stability and speed, equally distribute it worldwide, and improve domestic health by supplying it domestically.

NVX-CoV2373 is a nanoparticle-type candidate in which recombinant COVID-19 spike proteins are expressed in insect cells. It uses Matrix-M, which is an immunity booster developed by Novavax, and is regarded as being excellent in immunogenicity and neutralizing antibody formation. The phase 2 clinical trial of NVX-CoV2373 is currently underway and Novavax is planning to enter phase 3 in October. In Novavax's previous tests, 131 healthy adults were administered with NVX-CoV2373, twice each, and every subject showed a safe neutralizing antibody necessary for immunity with the concentration of the antibody meaningfully higher than what have been witnessed in serum samples from convalescent COVID-19 patients.

Earlier, in June, SK Bioscience signed a capacity reservation contract with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) so that some L House facilities can be used for the production of COVID-19 vaccines supported by the CEPI. The coalition has provided approximately US$388 million for Novavax so that NVX-CoV2373 can be developed and produced without delay. SK Bioscience is planning to use some of the facilities under its contract with the CEPI for the CDMO.

At present, SK Bioscience is expanding its CMO and CDMO business at a rapid pace by, for example, concluding a COVID-19 vaccine candidate contract manufacturing agreement with AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. In this regard, the company has more than tripled the annual output of the L House from 150 million doses.